LIBRARYOFPRiNCETON 


I. 


JAN  -  7  2003 


IHEOLOGiCALSEMlNARY 


A 

HISTORY 


CHURCH  OF  CHRIST; 


FROM    ITS 


INSTITUTION 


TO    THE 


SIXTEENTH  CENTURY; 


IN    WHICH    ARE    TRACED 


THE  RISE  AND  PROGRESS 


CORRUPTION  AND  REFORMATION. 


BY  THOMAS   GAILLARD. 


Baltimore: 

PRINTED      AT     THE      PUBLICATION      ROOMS, 
NO.      7,    SOUTH      LIBERTY      STREET. 

1846. 


UmTED  STATES  OF  AMERICA  : 

Southern  District  of  Alabama. — Be  it  remembered,  that  on  this  nineteenth  day 
of  May,  Anno  Domini  one  tiiousand  eight  hundred  and  forty-six,  Thos.  Gaillard, 
of  said  District,  hath  deposited  in  this  Office  the  title  of  a  Book,  which  is  in  the  words 
following  to  wit:  "  A  History  of  the  Church  of  Christ  from  its  Institution  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Sixteenth  Century,  in  which  are  traced  the  I'ise  and  progress  of  its  coiruptiori 
and  reformation'^ — the  right  whereof  he  claims  as  Author,  in  conformity  to  the  Act, 
entitled  An  Act  to  amend  the  several  acts  respecting  copy-rights,''  &c. 

JOHN  FILLS, 
Clerk  of  Southern  District  of  Alabama. 


The  writer  of  the  following  pages  claims  not  the  credit  of  original- 
ity. The  work  which  he  presents  to  the  public  can  assume  no  higher 
title  than  that  of  a  faithful  compilation  of  facts,  drawn  from  the  highest 
and  most  respectable  authorities.  If  there  be  any  merit  in  the  labor, 
it  must  be  found  in  the  novelty  of  the  arrangement  in  which  the  work 
has  been  composed.  The  history  of  the  Christian  Church  has  em- 
ployed the  pen  of  ecclesiastical  writers  of  every  age  since  its  first  in- 
stitution ;  and  he  who  would  now  venture  to  add  his  contribution  to  a 
department  in  literature  already  so  abundantly  supplied  with  the  rich 
stores  of  learning  and  science,  must  be  aware  that  he  assumes  a  posi- 
tion hazardous  in  itself,  and  Avhich  exposes  him  to  the  suspicion,  if  not 
to  the  direct  charge,  of  presumption.  The  subject,  however,  although 
not  a  neAV  one,  commands  at  present  an  increased  interest  from  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  the  times  in  which  we  live.  The  history  of 
the  Church  of  Christ  is  the  history  of  Protestantism  ;  and  upon  Prot- 
estantism are  founded  our  civil  and  religious  liberties.  When  these 
are  involved  in  a  controversy,  the  subject  becomes  of  vital  importance. 

Two  systems  are  arrayed  against  each  other.  The  arena  of  the 
conflict  is  the  moral  world.  The  prize  to  be  won  is  nothing  less  than 
the  salvation  of  the  immortal  soul.  The  Christianity  of  the  Bible,  and 
the  religion  of  Papal  Rome  are  the  antagonist  SJ^stems ;  and  between 
them  there  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  a  middle  ground  of  compromise  and 
conciliation.  The  mystery  of  iniquity  is  insidiously  at  work — "even 
he,  whose  coming  is  after  the  worship  of  Satan,  with  all  power  and 
signs  and  lying  wonders,  and  with  all  deceivableness  of  unrighteous- 
ness in  them  that  perish."  That  there  has  already  commenced  a 
deadly  struggle  between  the  powers  of  the  air,  and  the  Church,  none 
can  doubt,  who  has  been  observant  of  the  unwearied  exertions  every 
where  made  by  Popery,  to  ensnare  the  unwary,  and  to  increase  the 
number  of  apostates  from  the  true  faith.  "Unclean  spirits  lilce  frogs 
have  come  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  dragon,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the 
beast,  and  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  false  prophet.  They  are  the  spirits 
of  devils,  working  miracles,  which  go  forth  unto  the  kings  of  the  earth 
and  of  the  whole  world,  to  gather  them  to  the  battle  of  that  great  day 
of  God  Almighty.  Witness  the  ominous  signs  in  Ireland — the  crafty 
designs  and  insidious  machinations  of  the  Puseyites,  and  the  more  bold 
and  untiring  efforts  to  obtain  an  ascendency  in  America.    To  whatever 


iv.  PREFACE. 

section  of  the  world  we  cast  our  eyes,  we  discover  this  arch  enemy  of 
Christ's  kingdom  secretly  or  openly  laboring  to  engraft  its  corrupt  sys- 
tem upon  the  institutions  of  the  country. 

"In  Ireland,"  says  a  distinguislred  divine  of  the  Episcopal  church,' 
"  where  the  theology  of  Dens  is  the  recognized  textbook  of  the  Ro- 
man Catholic  clergy,  they  will  tell  you,  when  there  is  any  end  to  be 
gained,  that  popery  is  an  improved,  and  modified,  and  humanized 
thing:  whereas,  all  the  while,  there  is  not  a  monstrous  doctrine  broach- 
ed in  the  most  barbarous  of  past  times,  which  this  very  text-book  does 
not  uphold  as  necessary  to  be  beheved,  and  not  a  foul  practice  devised 
in  the  midnight  of  the  world,  which  it  does  not  enjoin  as  necessary  to 
be  done."  "  In  England,"  says  White,  •'  it  is  the  pohcy  of  Popery  to 
persuade  the  world  that  the  authority  of  the  Pope  is  of  so  spiritual  a 
nature,  as,  if  strictly  reduced  to  what  the  creed  of  the  Papal  church 
required,  can  never  interfere  with  the  civil  duties  of  those  who  own 
that  authority."  In  the  United  States,  where  rehgious  liberty  is  bet- 
ter understood,  and  more  practically  enjoyed,  than  in  any  other  portion 
of  the  globe — the  Papists  pronounce  religiousin  tolerance  a  detestable 
dogma.  In  Spain,  where  Popery  maintains  the  ascendency,  Protestant- 
ism is  proscribed — and  as  recently  as  the  year  1814,  the  Holy  Inquisi- 
tion was  re-established  for  the  punishment  of  heresy.  In  South 
America,  governments  organized  on  repubUcan  principles,  but  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  Roman  pontifT — have  copied  the  odious  laws  of 
Spain  in  the  restriction  of  rehgious  privileges. 

Such  is  the  character  of  Poperj^.  By  such  arts,  it  has  succeeded 
but  too  effectually,  not  only  in  quieting  the  alarm  of  the  people  of  this 
country,  but  in  clothing  itself  with  attractions  which  delude  and  fasci- 
nate. It  holds  out  the  forbidden  fruit,  and  with  the  subtility  of  the 
serpent,  says — "  By  tasting  ye  shall  not  surely  die  :  but  in  the  day  ye 
eat  thereof,  your  eyes  shall  be  opened ;  and  ye  shall  be  as  gods,  know- 
ing good  and  evil."  But  let  not  Protestants  be  deceived  by  the  pro- 
mise of  peace  and  safely,  and  receive  the  Tempter  into  their  bosoms. 
Popery  boasts  of  its  infaUibility,  and  prides  itself  upon  its  unchange- 
ableness.  "  The  system  is  the  same — intrinsically,  inherently  the 
same.  It  may  assume  different  aspects  to  carry  out  different  purposes, 
but  this  is  itself  a  part  of  popery:  there  is  the  variable  appearance 
of  the  chamelion,  and  the  invariable  venom  of  the  serpent."  (Mel- 
viU.) 

It  was  with  the  view  of  tracing  the  rise  and  progress  of  a  power 
which,  from  the  humble  and  unassuming  character  of  a  Presbyter  of 

'  "  Sermons  by  Henry  Melvill." 


PREFACE.  V. 

the  Church  of  Christ,  has  opposed  and  exalted  itself  above  all  that  is 
called  God,  or  tliat  is  worshipped,  that  the  following  history  of  the 
Church  was  compiled.  It  may  be  objected,  and  with  much  appearance 
of  correctness,  that  the  Romish  church  has  been  noticed  as  a  branch  of 
the.  Church  of  Christ,  after  it  had  lost  every  vestige  of  a  Christian  in- 
stitution. This  arrangement  was  unavoidable.  That  it  ceased  to  be  a 
true  and  Apostolic  Church,  at  least  as  early  as  the  middle  of  the  third 
century,  must  be  conceded  by  all  who  will  compare  its  government 
and  rites  with  the  constitution  of  the  church  as  it  proceeded  from  the 
hands  of  the  apostles,  and  as  preserved  in  their  inspired  writings. 
From  that  period  the  stream  diverged  from  its  accustomed  channel. 
The  Romish  Church,  after  the  conversion  of  Constantine,  lost  almost 
every  feature  of  its  original  excellence;  it  had  a  name  that  it  lived, 
but  was  dead.  It  remembered  not  from  whence  it  had  fallen,  nor  re- 
pented, and  did  its  first  works  ;  and  Christ,  the  great  head  of  the 
Church,  removed  its  candlestick  out  of  his  place. 

It  was  then  that  the  Apocalyptic  woman,  to  whom  were  given  two 
wings  of  a  great  eagle,  fled  into  the  wilderness,  into  her  place,  where 
she  was  nourished  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years.  This  was  un- 
doubtedly the  true  Church:  and  it  was  against  it  that  the  corrupt  hier- 
archy of  Rome,  or  the  mystical  dragon,  has  ever  since  made  war. 
The  concession  of  the  title  of  Christian  to  the  Popish  Church  was 
made  rather  from  courtesy  to  the  admissions  of  a  venerated  and  or- 
thodox branch  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  than  from  a  conviction  of  the 
correctness  of  the  application.'  Ecclesiastical  historians  have  gener- 
ally acquiesced  in  its  pretensions  to  this  title  ;  and  this  authority  was 
considered  a  sufficient  sanction  for  the  concession. 

The  Sacred  Scriptures  teach  us — that  there  is  one  God,  and  one 
mediator  between  God  and  men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus;  that  neither 
is  there  salvation  in  any  other :  for  there  is  none  other  name  under 
heaven  given  among  men  whereby  we  must  be  saved — that  the  Gos- 
pel of  Christ  is  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation,  to  every  one  that  be- 
lieveth ;  and  that  the  holy  scriptures  are  able  to  make  us  wise  unto 
salvation  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus — that  by  the  deeds  of 
the  law  there  shall  no  flesh  be  justified  in  his  sight — that  we  are  jus- 
tified freely  by  the  grace  of  God,  through  the  redemi)tioii  that  is  in 
Jesus  Christ — that  Christ  by  one  oflering  (or  sacrifice)  hath  perfected 
forever  them  that  are  sanctified — nor  yet  that  he  should  oiFer  himself 
often  :  but  after  he  had  offered  one  sacrifice  for  sins  ;  forever  sat  down 

'Hooker  calls  tlio  Olmrcli  of  Rome — "  A  part  of  tlic  house  of  God,  a  limb  of  tlie 
visible  Church  of  CiiriBl." 


VI.  PREFACE. 

on  the  right  hand  of  C4od — that  we  are  not  redeemed  with  corruptible 
things,  as  silver  and  gold  ;  but  with  the  precious  blood  of  Christ — that 
we  beware  lest  any  man  spoil  us  through  philosophy  and  vain  deceit, 
after  the  tradition  of  men,  after  the  rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not 
after  Christ — and  that  we  should  let  no  man  beguile  us  of  our  reward, 
in  a  voluntary  humihty  and  worshipping  of  angels — these  are  the  pre- 
cepts of  the  Bible. 

Popery  teaches  us — that  Christians  may  do  works  of  supereroga- 
tion ;  or  as  Bellarmine  has  said — "  a  just  man  hath,  by  a  double  title, 
right  to  the  same  glory ;  one  by  the  merits  of  Christ  imparted  to  him 
by  grace,  another  by  his  own  merits" — that  sins  may  be  pardoned  by 
money ;  or  the  doctrine  of  indulgences — that  there  are  other  mediators 
between  God  and  man,  besides  Jesus  Christ,  such  as  saints  and  angels, 
and  especially  the  Virgin  Mary — that  the  scriptures  do  not  contain  all 
things  necessary  to  salvation — that  the  word  of  God  is  obscure  in  some 
things  essential  to  faith — that  in  the  mass  Jesus  Christ  is  offered  up  by 
the  priest  a  sacrifice  for  the  sins  of  the  living  and  the  dead — that 
prayers  are  to  be  addressed,  and  worship  to  be  given  to  saints  and  an- 
o-els — that  in  the  Lord's  Supper,  the  bread  and  wine,  are  by  consecra- 
tion, converted  into  the  very  body  and  blood,  soul  and  divinity  of 
Christ.  It  maintains^ — that  faith  is  not  to  be  kept  with  heretics — that 
heretics  should  be  persecuted  and  destroyed — that  the  pope  is  the  su- 
preme head  of  the  church — that  God  has  established  in  his  Church 
one  supreme  infallible  judge  in  matters  of  faith — ^that  the  souls  of  the 
faithful  go  to  a  place  called  Purgatory,  to  be  cleansed  of  their  sins  be- 
fore they  can  enter  heaven — that  the  people  should  not  read  the  Scrip- 
tures'— that  the  cup  should  not  be  given  to  the  laity  in  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per— that  public  prayers  should  be  offered  up  in  a  language  not  un- 
derstood by  the  people — that  every  man  must,  without  further  exami- 
nation, submit  his  faith  to  the  decisions  of  the  Church.  It  appoints 
imao-es  and  pictures  to  be  set  up  in  places  of  worship ;  and  commands 
the  people  to  bow  down  before  them.  It  declares  the  Church  of  Rome 
to  be  the  only  true  Church ;  from  which  if  a  man  separate  he  cannot 
be  saved. 

Such  are  the  tenets  of  a  Church  which  claims  to  have  been  built 
upon  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  being  the  chief 
corner  stone  :  having  a  form  of  godliness,  but  denying  the  power  there- 
of: ever  learning,  and  never  able  to  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
truth. 

'John  cli.ipler  5tli,  verse  39lli, — "  Searcli  the  Pciiptures ;  for  in  llicin  30  lliink  yo 
have  cturiiiil  hfo:  and  they  are  they  which  testify  of  me."  Sec  also  Acts,  cliapler 
nth,  verse  lllh. 


CONTENTS 


^^^iHi^ 


PART  I. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Covenant  of  Redemption — First  Revelation  of  the  plan  of  Re- 
demption— First  visible  Church  of  Christ — Expiatory  sacrifice  by- 
Abel — Type  of  Christ's  Sacrifice — "The  Sons  of  God;"  the  witness- 
es of  the  Truth — Noah's  offering,  and  God's  covenant  with  him  of 
Mercy — Noah's  offering;  the  foundation  of  sacrificial  Worship — 
Knowledge  of  God  preserved  by  tradition  from  Him — Evidences  of 
this  from  Scripture  and  from  profane  History — God's  covenant  with 
Abraham — Church  of  Christ,  and  Circumcision  instituted  as  a  seal  of 
Initiation — Covenant  of  Works  renewed  at  Sinai — Forms  of  Divint^ 
Worship  established — Coincidence  of  events  before  the  Nativity  of 
Jesus  Christ — This  event  expected  by  all  Nations — Predicted  by  the 
inspired  Prophets — State  of  the  Nations  immediately  preceding  it — 
The  Roman  Empire — Virgil's  Eclogue — Jews  expected  at  that  time  a 
temporal  Prince — Testimony  of  Pagan  writers,  'facitus,  Suetonius — 
Josephus  refers  to  Vespasian's  reign  as  the  fulfillment  of  the  Prophe- 
cies— Christ's  Nativity — Appeared  in  the  Temple — John  the  Bap- 
tist— Christ's  Ministry — Prophecies  of  Daniel — The  Twelve  Disci- 
ples appointed — JeAvish  Sects — Origin  of  them — The  Sadducees — 
The  Pharisees — The  Scribes — The  Herodians — The  Disciples  con- 
tended for  pre-eminence — Rebuked  by  Christ — Christ  Crucified — 
^Daniel's  Prophecies  of  the  Messiah — Destruction  of  Jerusalem.  From 
page  17  to  30. 

CHAPTER  II. 

FIRST    CENTURY. 

The  Church  of  Christ — Its  Foundation — No  system  of  Church 
Government  established  by  Him — Matthias  chosen,  and  numbered 
with  the  eleven — The  day  of  Pentecost — Descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost — 
Deacons  appointed — Persecution  of  the  Church  by  Saul — Peter  cen- 
sured for  visiting  the  Gentiles — Paul  and  Barnabas  go  to  Antioch — 
Gospel  by  Mattliew — Apollos — Contribution  from  the  brethren  in  An- 
tioch to  those  in  Jerusalem  sent  by  the  hands  of  Paul  and  Barnabas — 
Elders  first  mentioned — Their  character  and  office — Reference  to  the 
Jewish  Synagogue — The  terms.  Bishop — Presbyter — Elder — Synony- 
mous— Authorities — Burnet,  Paley,  Dr.  Holland,  Dr.  Reynolds,  Lon- 


Vlll.  •  CONTENTS. 

don  Christian  Observer,  Onderdonk,  Polycarp's  Epistle,  and  the  in- 
spired writers — Ministerial  Offices — The  Apostles — Prophets — Evan- 
gelists— Pastors  and  Teachers — Paul  and  Barnabas  ordained  by  cer- 
tain Prophets  and  Teachers,  with  prayer  and  laying  on  of  hands — 
Controversy  in  Antioch  on  the  observance  of  the  Jewish  rites — Refer- 
ence to  Jerusalem — The  decision  of  the  Council — Peter's  conduct  to 
the  Gentiles — Rebuked  by  Paul — No  notice  of  Peter  by  the  inspired 
writers  after  this  intervicAV  with  Paul — Was  Peter  Bishop  either  of 
Antioch  or  of  Rome  ? — The  Apostolic  Churches — of  Jerusalem,  Anti- 
och, Alexandria  and  Rome — The  doctrines  which  agitated  the  Church- 
es— Jewish  Observances — Heathen  opinions — The  Magians — Nico- 
laitans — Cerinthians,  Ebionites — Gnostics,  their  Origin — Sabianism — 
The  Magi — Platonic  Philosophy — Simonians—Docetae— Cerinthians — 
Logos,  whence  derived;  how  used  by  John — Labors  of  the  Apos- 
tles— Peter  never  Bishop  of  Rome— Titles — Presbyter  and  Bishop 
proved  to  be  convertible  by  the  authority  of  the  Fathers,  Jerome,  Ter- 
tullian,  FirmiUian,  Hilary,  Theodore t — Opinion  of  Dr.  Mosheim — 
The  writings  of  the  Fathers  corrupted — The  Forgeries  and  alterations 
in  the  chronicles  of  the  Romish  Church — The  succession  in  the  Apos- 
tleship — Duties  of  the  Apostles — Rite  of  Ordination — Plurality  of 
Bishops  in  the  same  city — Apocalypse.     From  page  30  to  66. 

CHAPTER   III. 

SECOND  CENTURY. 

The  Church  of  Christ — A  Society  of  Behevers — The  term  Oikos — 
No  buildings  for  public  worship  before  the  third  Century — Primitive 
Societies  of  Believers — First  innovation  in  ecclesiastical  Government — 
Sacerdotal  character  of  the  Members — Episcopal  Presbyter— Provin- 
cial Assemblies — Provincial  or  diocesan  Bishops — Form  of  Synagogue 
•worship  obhterated — Jesus  Christ  the  only  High  Priest — System  of 
Temple  worship  inconsistent  with  that  in  the  Christian  Church — Con- 
troversy on  the  Paschal  Feast — Administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper — 
The  Platonics. 

THIRD    CENTURY. 

Pre-eminence  of  the  Bishops  of  Rome — Alexandria — Constantino- 
ple— Contentions  between  them  for  power — Their  pride  and  extrava- 
gance— Clergy  not  forbidden  to  marry — Consequences  of  diocesan 
Episcopacy — Note,  Christian  Churches  first  erected — New  rites  and 
ceremonies  introduced — Sacrament  administered  in  both  kinds — Bap- 
tism; its  supposed  regenerating  influence — First  intimations  of  Pur- 
gatory— Its  Origin — Opinions  of  the  character  of  Christ — Prayers  of- 
fered up  for  departed  Saints — Controversy  on  the  doctrine  of  the 
Trinity — Decisions  of  Council  contradictory — The  learning  and  soph- 
istry of  the  age.  from  page  06  to  80.  The  dawn  of  the  Reforma- 
tion— State  of  the  Church — Novatian — Puritan  Churches  founded — 
Extended  throughout  the  Provinces  in  Asia — Treatise  on  the  doctrine 
of  the  Trinity  ;  orthodox — Novatian  excommunicated.  From  page 
80  to  83. 


CONTENTS.  IX. 

CHAPTER   IV. 

FOURTH    CENTURY. 

Constantine,  Emperor — Edict  of  toleration — His  control  over  the 
Church — Forms  in  the  election  of  a  Bishop — Civil  Commotion  in 
Rome — Damascus  and  Ursicinus — Accumulation  of  power  in  the  head 
of  the  Church — Title  of  Patriarch — The  Exarchs — The  Metropoli- 
tans— Admixture  of  Paganism  with  Christianity — The  Pontiff — Ele- 
vation of  the  Host — Sacred  relics — The  Donatists — Arius,  his  doc- 
trines, &c., — Athanasius,  opposed  to  them — First  ecumenical  council 
at  Nice — Conflicting  judgments  of  Councils — Nicene  Creed — Arius 
excommunicated — Arius  restored  by  Constantine — Athanasius  deposed 
and  banished — Alternate  triumph  of  the  parties — Second  ecumenical 
council  at  Constantinople,  by  Theodosius — Patriarch  of  that  city. 
From  page  83  to  92.  The  progress  of  the  Reformation — The  Nova- 
tians,  persecuted  by  Constantius — Macedonius — Aerius — His  opposi- 
tion to  Episcopacy — Opinions  of  the  Fathers — His  opposition  to  the 
superstitious  rites  of  the  Church — The  extension  of  the  Aerian  churches 
in  Europe  and  Asia — Novatians  and  Aerians  witnesses  of  the  truth. 
From  page  92  to  94. 

FIFTH    CENTURY. 

Western  empire  conquered  by  the  Goths — The  Heruii — Ostrogoths, 
&c., — The  Church  relapsed  into  Polytheism — Patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople elevated  to  an  equal  rank  with  the  Patriarch  of  Rome,  by 
the  fourth  ecumenical  council  at  Chalcedon — Maxim  of  the  Romish 
Church — Forgeries,  by  Zosimus  and  Boniface — Spiritual  warfare  be- 
tween the  Eastern  and  Western  Patriarchs — Auricular  Confession — 
Purgatory — Pelagius  ;  his  doctrines — Title  of  the  Virgin  Mary — Nes- 
torius — Heresies  of  the  Councils — Modern  creed  of  Papists — Nestori- 
ans  condemned — Council  at  Ephesus — Conventus  Latronum.  From 
page  94  to  100.  The  progress  of  the  Reformation — Novatians  perse- 
cuted— Vigilantius;  his  doctrines — Opposed  by  Jerome  ;  countenanced 
by  many  bishops.     Page  100. 

CHAPTER   V. 

SIXTH    CENTURY. 

French  monarch — Clovis — Columba  goes  from  Ireland  to  Scotland — 
Internal  state  of  the  Church — Conflicting  claims  of  the  Patriarchs — 
Their  true  powers — Contentions  in  Kome  for  St.  Peter's  Chair — Sym- 
machus  and  Laurentius — Christianity  is  still  more  corrupted — Tem- 
ples to  departed  Saints — Purgatory — Gregory  the  Great — Remission 
of  Sins — Conflicting  decrees  of  Councils — Origen — Note,  his  doc- 
trines revived — The  tenets  of  the  Eutycheans,  of  the  Monophysitcs — 
The  Three  Chapters — The  pontiff  Vigilius  ;  his  contest  with  Justini- 
an ;  his  prevarications — Withdrawal  of  certain  bishops  from  commu- 
nion with  the  Western  Church — Controversy  on  the  Trinity.  From 
page  101  to  107.  Progress  of  the  Reformation — Approach  of  the 
Dark  Ages — The  Novatians  in  the  East — Columba,  the  apostle  of  the 


CONTENTS. 


Picts — His  doctrine — Founded  his  ecclesiastical  system  in  lona — Gov- 
ernment  of  his  church — Christianity;  when  planted  in  Ireland — Flour- 
ishing Culdee  churches  for  many  centuries  in  Scotland — English 
bishops  ordained  by  Culdee  presbyters.     From  page  107  to  113. 

SEVENTH    CENTURY. 

Contest  for  supremacy  between  the  Patriarch  and  Pontiff— Mahom- 
et— Pretended  concession  by  Phocas  to  Boniface  of  the  title  of  univer- 
sal bishop — Church  under  the  control  of  the  Emperors — Controversy 
on  the  human  and  divine  natures  in  Christ — The  Monothelites — Edict 
of  Heraclius  in  favor  of  their  doctrine — Confirmed  by  a  council  at  Alex- 
andria. Honorius  confirmed  this  judgment — Controversies;  changes 
of  opinion — Pontiff  imprisoned  in  the  island  of  Naxos  by  the  Emper- 
or— Monothelites  condemned  by  the  ecumenical  council  at  Constanti- 
nople— Certain  canons  of  the  supplemental  council  rejected  by  the 
Latin  church— Records  of  Councils  mutilated,  and  writings  of  the 
fathers— Corruption  of  the  Church — Bishops  and  monks  engaged  in 
an  angry  controversy — Houses  of  public  worship  made  asylums  for 
fugitives  from  justice.  From  page  113  to  118.  Progress  of  the  Re- 
formation— The  Culdees  on  the  continent — Authority  of  the  Pontiffs — 
The  Paulicians  revived — Not  Manichaeans — Probably  Novatians — so 
called  from  their  attachment  to  the  doctrines  of  the  apostle  Paul — The 
government  of  their  church — Persecuted  by  Justinian  II.  From  page 
118  to  121. 

CHAPTER    VI. 

EIGHTH    CENTURY. 

Civil  commotions  in  the  Eastern  empire— System  of  Philosoph}' — 
Political  changes,  unfavorable  to  the  patriarch  of  the  East,  and  advance 
the  pretensions  of  the  Roman  pontiff— Pepin  encouraged  by  Zacliary 
to  depose  Childeric — The  exarchate  of  Ravenna  vested  in  Stephen  IL 
by  Pepin — The  epoch  of  the  popes'  temporal  powers — Charlemagne- 
Concessions  to  him  by  Adrian — Clergy  amenable  to  the  civil  authori- 
ties— Controversy  about  image  worship — Continued  for  many  years — 
Not  sanctioned  by  the  fathers — Made  a  part  of  the  public  service  by 
the  second  council  at  Nice — Efforts  of  the  emperors  to  abolish  it — 
Controversy  on  the  theological  question  of  the  procession  of  the  Holy 
Ghost — The  term  Filioque  inserted  in  the  Latin  translation  of  the 
canons,  although  not  found  in  the  original  Greek  records  of  the  Coun- 
cils— Solitary  mass  introduced — Price  of  transgression — Superstitious 
dread  of  an  excommimication — State  of  morals  in  the  ('hurch.  From 
page  121  to  128.  Progress  of  the  Reformation- The  Culdees,  or 
Scottish  reformers,  introduce  scholastic  divinity — Opposed  by  pope 
Zachary — The  Paulicians — Their  persecution  renewed  by  the  em- 
peror, Leo  III.     From  page  128  to  129. 

NINTH    CENTURY. 

Incursions  of  the  Saracens— Charlemagne — The  extent  of  his  do- 
minions— Contentions    between    his   successors — Instigated    by   the 


CONTENTS.  XI. 

popes — Contributed  to  increase  the  temporal  authority  of  the  See  of 
Rome — Forged  canons — Concessions  by  Charles  the  Bald — Schism 
between  the  Eastern  and  Western  churches — Ignatius  and  Photius — 
Image  worship  established  through  the  influence  of  the  popes — The 
empress  Theodora — Council  at  Constantinople — Procession  of  the  Holy 
Ghost — The  elements  in  the  eucharist— Opinions  of  the  Fathers — 
Radbert  and  Bertram — Relics — Veneration  for  departed  Saints — Trials 
by  fire,  cold-water,  &c., — Intrigues  and  vices  of  the  Pontiffs — Papissa 
Joanna.  From  page  129  to  136.  Progress  of  the  Reformation — The 
Paulicians — Their  migrations  from  Asia — Persecutions  by  the  emper- 
ors— Carbeas  and  Chrysocheir — Dispersion  of  the  Paulicians — Clau- 
dius, bishop  of  Turin ;  his  ministerial  labors  and  doctrines.  From 
page  136  to  139. 

CHAPTER    VII. 

TENTH  CENTURY. 

Commencement  of  the  Dark  Age — Successions  of  the  popes — Their 
profligacy — Theodora  and  her  daughter  Marozia — Otho  the  Great — 
Consequences  of  his  death — The  right  of  nomination  to  the  papal 
throne  by  the  emperors — Advance  of  the  popes  to  power — Simony  and 
concubinage,  the  prevailing  vices  of  the  clergy — Trafficing  in  ecclesi- 
astical preferments — Monks  of  Clugni.  Froin  page  139  to  144.  Pro- 
gress of  the  Reformation — Paulicians  in  Europe — I'heir  form  of  church 
government — Their  copies  of  the  sacred  Scriptures — Their  discipline. 
Page  145. 

ELEVENTH    CENTURY. 

Crusades  against  the  Saracens — The  consequences — Instigated  by 
the  popes — Germanic  empire — House  of  Saxony — Guelphs  and  Ghi- 
belins — The  kingdom  of  France — Titles  of  Nobility — England — Wil- 
liam the  Conqueror — His  reply  to  Gregory  VII., — The  No  mans  in 
Italy — Robert  Guiscard — Robert,  king  of  France,  excommunicated— 
Papal  interdict — Heresy  its  Scriptural  import — Consequences  of  an 
excommunication  and  interdict — Two  cLiimants  of  the  papal  throne — 
Its  usurpation  by  Benedict  X., — The  origin  of  parochial  districts — 
Cardinals — The  origin  and  character  of  the  Office — Rights  and  privi- 
leges of  the  cardinal  bishop — Form  of  electing  a  pope — Nicholas  II  , — 
Conflicting  claims  of  Alexander  II  and  Honorius  II., — Flildebrand — 
Gregory  VII., — Informally  elected — His  character,  and  high  preten- 
sions— His  plan  of  a  supreme  spiritual  judicatory — His  contest  with 
Henry  IV., — Feud  il  system— Investitures — Ring  and  crosi(^r — Tem- 
poral usurpations  of  the  popes  and  bishops — Henry  excommmiicated — 
His  submission — Civil  commotions  in  the  empire — Rodolph  elevated  to 
the  throne  by  Gregory — -Henry  expelled  Gregory  from  Rome,  and 
substituted  Clement — Contest  between  Clement  and  Victor — Intrigues 
of  Matilda,  the  concubine  of  Gregory  VII., — Council  at  Clermont — Its 
decree — Contest  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches — Legates  sent 
to  Constantinople  by  Leo  IX., — Prohibition  of  the  clergy  from  enter- 
ing into  the  bonds  of  wedlock — The  schism  in  the  Church — Contro- 


Xll.  CONTENTS. 

versy  in  the  Greek  cliurch  respecting'  image  worship — Doctrinal  points 
of  difference  between  the  East  and  West — Controversy  on  the  euchar- 
ist — Berencrer — Opinion  of  Gregory  VII., — Attempt  to  introduce  the 
Liturgy  in  the  Latin  tongue — System  of  scholastic  Theology.  From 
page  14.J  to  164.  Progress  of  the  Reformation — The  Paulicians — 
The  period  of  their  migration  to  Western  Europe — Appeared  in 
France — Their  several  titles  after  their  migration — Identity  of  the  No- 
vatians  and  Paulicians.     From  page  164  to  167. 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

TWELFTH    CENTUIIY. 

The    Crusaders — Defeated  and    dispersed — The    influence  of  the 
Crusaders  on  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  state  of  Europe — The  popes 
acquired  new  powers — Three  rival  claimants  of  St.  l^eter's  chair — 
Schism  in  the  Church — Innocent  II.  and  Anacletus  II.  elected  popes — 
Lucius  killed — Civil  commotions  in   Rome — Another  contest  for  the 
papal  chair — Alexander  III.  and  Victor  IV., — The  Vatican  and  the 
Lateran  ;  explained  (note) — Contest  between  Alexander  and  the  em- 
peror Frederick  Barbarossa — Frederick  excommunicated — Controver- 
sy on  the  right  of  Investiture,  between  the  pope  and  emperor — Pas- 
cal charged  with  treachery  to  the  Church — Acknowledged  his  error, 
and  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  a  council — Compromise  of  the  con- 
troversy, between  Calixtus  II.  and  the  emperor — Important  change  in 
the  electoral  college  by  pope  Alexander — Lucrative  traffic  in   Indul- 
gences— Idolatrous  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the  Saints — The 
Apostle's  Creed — Communion  of  Saints — Origin  of  Saint  worship — 
The  Psalter  of  the  Virgin— Arrogance  of  Adrian  IV.,  of  Alexander 
III.,  of  Celestine  III., — Controversy  on  the  Eucharist  renewed.    From 
page  164  to  179.     Progress  of  the"  Reformation — The  Church  in  the 
Aviiderness   (note) — The  three  Angels,  and  the  two  witnesses  of  the 
Apocalypse — The  Albigenses  in  Fr mce — Several  distinctive  titles  at- 
tached to  the  Paulicians — Misrepresentations  of  their  character  by  po- 
pish writers — The  antiquity  of  the  Vaudois — Authorities  referred  to — 
Peculiar  traits  of  their  character — Their  doctrines — Their   form   of 
church    government — Their   religious    rites — Odious    to   the    popish 
church — Peter  de  Bruis — His  religious  tenets — Martyred — His  trea- 
tise on  anti-Christ — Arnold  of  Brescia — Civil  commotions  in  Rome — 
Personal  violence  inflicted  on  the  popes — Pascal  II., — Gelasius  II., — 
Political  and  religious  rclonnation  attempted  by  Arnold — His  success — 
Crucified  and  burnt — Henry  from  Mount  Jura— Preached  in  France — 
Apprehended  and  im])risoned — Descrij)tion  of  Piedmont — Of  Albige- 
sium — Extract  from   Gibbon — Albigenses  condemned   by   successive 
councils,  and  persecuted — Refugees  condemned,  and  cruelly  punished 
in  England — John  of  Lyons,  or  Peter  Valdus — Preached  the  doctrines 
of  the  Vaudois  in  Lyonnois,  &c., — Persecuted — Died  in  Bohemia — 
Persecution  of  the  reformers.     From  page  179  to  194. 


CONTENTS.  Xlll. 

CHAPTER   IX. 

THIRTEENTH  CENTURY. 

The  popish  church  arrived  at  its  highest  point  of  elevation — Its  pre- 
cension  to  universal  dominion — Innocent  III,, — His  character — His 
arbitrary  exercise  of  power — Controversy  between  C4regory  IX.  and 
the  emperor  Frederick  II., — Revival  of  the  Guelph  and  Ghibelin  par- 
ties— Electoral  College  divided  — The  Roman  See  vacant  three  years — 
The  pope  entitled  himself,  "The  Lord  of  the  World" — Dissensions 
among  the  Cardinals  ;  and  another  interregnum — Boniface  VIII. , — 
Another  change  in  the  mode  of  electing  the  popes — Maxims  in  the  ec- 
clesiastical code — Compilation  of  the  decrees — The  Sext — 'I'he  Clem- 
entines— The  Extra vagantes  — The  Directorium  Inquisilorum — The 
doctrine  of  transubstantiation  made  an  article  of  faith — Consubstantia- 
lion  of  Paschasius — Erroneously  adopted  by  Luther — The  prayer-i)os- 
ture  at  the  Lord's  Supper  introduced — Idolatrous — Efforts  to  establish 
universally  the  use  of  the  Latin  tongue  in  public  worship — Progres- 
sive change  of  the  Latin  language  in  Europe — Efforts  to  withhold 
spiritual  knowledge  from  the  people — Waldo's  translation  of  the  Bi- 
ble— Opinion  of  the  fathers  on  the  use  of  an  unknown  language  in 
public  worship — Commission  to  inquire  into  heresy — The  origin  of  the 
Inquisition — Council  at  Toulouse — College  of  the  Sorbonne  founded — 
Auricular  confession  made  imperative — Forged  documen  s  to  further 
the  pretensions  of  the  popes — Encroachments  of  the  popes  on  the 
spiritual  rights  of  the  bishops — The  Jubilee — Controversy  between 
the  popes  and  the  bishops  on  the  right  to  presentation,  &c., — Robert 
Grosstete — The  Franciscans  and  Dominicans — Their  contentions  ;  un- 
favorable to  the  Church — Contrast  between  the  morals  of  the  Romish 
church  and  the  Reformers — Dispute  between  the  mendicant  Orders 
and  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne — St.  Amour — Internal  dissensions 
among  the  Franciscans — "The  everlasting  Gospel" — The  Spirituals — 
Their  attack  on  the  corruptions  of  the  clergy — Dante  the  Poet — The 
Fratricelli.  From  page  194  to  21G.  Progress  of  the  Reformation — 
The  Culdees  in  Scotland — Traced  to  the  thirteenth  century — Pied- 
mont— Savoy — Historical  sketch — Languedoc — Provence — System  of 
persecution — Europe. called  upon  by  Innocent  III.  to  exterminate  her- 
esy— Castelnau  the  Inquisitor  murdered — Count  of  Toulouse  excom- 
municated— His  territories  put  under  an  interdict — Crusade  against 
the  Albigenses — Desolations  and  murders — Siege  of  Bezieres — Its 
capture  and  the  slaughter  of  its  inhabitants — Carcassone — Languedoc 
a  scene  of  devastation — The  war  renewed  by  Honorius  III., — Mar- 
mande— Siege  of  Toulouse— The  earl  of  Montfort  killed — Louis  VIII. 
king  of  France — Avignon — War  terminated  by  the  destruction  or  dis- 
persion of  the  Albigenses — The  Inquisition — The  Inquisitor  Marpurg 
sent  into  Germany,  and  killed  by  the  populace — Inquisition  established 
in  Arragon.     From  page  216  to  227. 


XIV.  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER   X. 

FOURTEENTH    CENTURY. 

Controversy  beUveen  the  pope  and  the  kings  of  England  and 
France — The  spiritual  and  temporal  rights  of  the  Church — Subsidies 
exacted  by  Edward— Pope's  legate  imprisoned  by  Philip — Letter  of 
Boniface — Philip's  reply — The  three  estates  of  the  kingdom  of  France 
convened — Measures  against  the  temporal  usurpations  of  the  pope — 
Philip  excommunicated — His  crown  offered  to  the  emperor  Albert — 
Personal  violence  inflicted  on  Boniface — His  death — Dante's  Hell 
(note) — Consummation  and  decline  of  the  papal  power — Clement  V. 
removed  his  seat  to  Avignon  in  France — The  clergy  more  corrupt — 
Benedict  revoked  the  papal  bulls  against  Philip — Insecurity  of  the 
popes  in  the  city  of  Rome — Civil  government  in  that  city — '^I'he  See 
vacant  two  years — Again  vacant  soon  after  one  year — Babylonish  cap- 
tivity— Gregory  II.  returned  to  Rome — Great  schism  of  the  West — 
The  church  distracted  and  torn  by  factions  for  more  than  forty  years — 
Causes  of  the  decline  of  the  papal  power — Dante's  Hell  (note) — 
Traffic  in  Indulgences — Spiritual  usurpations  of  the  popes — Avarice 
of  John  XXII., — English  statute  of  promisors — Statute  of  Praemunire — 
Spiritual  benefices — Usurped  by  the  popes — Statutes  of  Mortmain — 
Parliamentary  enactments  in  England  against  the  encroachments  of 
the  court  of  I?ome — Gallican  church — Pragmatic  sanction — Rise  and 
progress  of  the  privilege  of  clergy — Ecclesiastical  courts — Their  en- 
croachments on  the  civil  tribunals — Contest  between  John  XXII.  and 
Lewis  of  Bavaria — Lewis  excommunicated  by  John — John  in  his  turn 
declared  a  heretic  and  driven  out  of  Rome — The  Spirituals  of  the 
Franciscan  Order — Dissensions  in  the  Church — The  Brethren  of  the 
community — The  Spirituals  condemned  and  persecuted — These  divi- 
sions favorable  to  the  cause  of  Reformation — New  festivals  intro- 
duced— Superstitious  infatuation  in  favor  of  the  Franciscans.  From 
page  227  to  240.  Progress  of  the  Reformation — The  Lollards — Their 
several  titles — Derivation  of  the  name  (note) — Walter  the  Lollard — 
Propagated  his  doctrines  in  England — Burnt  afterwards  as  a  heretic 
in  Cologne — His  followers  in  England  persecuted — John  Wickliffe — 
Adopted  the  tenets  of  Walter,  and  attacked  the  corruptions  and  vices 
of  the  clergy — Influence  of  his  doctrines — liCgislative  enactments 
against  the  acts  of  the  popes — Religious  opinions  of  Wickliffe — Lord 
Cobham,  a  disciple  of  Wickliffe — Persecuted  and  burnt — Huss  of 
Bohemia — The  government  of  England  sustained  the  popish  church, 
ahhough  opposed  to  its  usurpations — Reformers  expelled  from  Eng- 
land— The  doctrines  of  Huss  and  of  VVicklifle  derived  from  the  Wal- 
denses — Retrospective  notice  of  tho  Aibigenses  and  the  Paulicians — 
The  Vaudois  protected  by  the  dukes  of  Savoy — Contest  of  the  emperor 
Frederick  II.  with  the  popes — His  cruel  edicts  against  heretics — Per- 
secution of  the  Waldenses — Conversion  of  a  Jacobin  monk — The  Beg- 
hards — Derivation  of  their  title  (note) — Colony  of  Waldenses  removed 
to  Calabria — The  fraternity  of  the  poor — Turlupins — Increase  of  the 
Waldenses.     From  page  246  to  259. 


CONTENTS.  XV. 

CHAPTERXI. 

FIFTEENTH  CENTURY. 

Wars  between  France  and  England — The  English  finally  dispos- 
sessed of  their  provinces  in  France — Civil  war  in  England — The  Ger- 
man empire — The  Golden  Bull — Rule  of  succession  to  the  throne — 
The  electoral  college — Its  proceedings  in  reference  to  the  contest  be- 
tween Lewis  of  Bavaria  and  the  popes — Diet  of  Frankfort — Law  res- 
pecting the  election  and  coronation  of  a  successor  to  the  imperial 
throne — Switzerland — Description  of  the  Country — The  Cantons — 
Struggle  for  their  Independence — Religion  of  the  several  Cantons — 
The  Netherlands — Historical  sketch — Capture  of  Constantinople — 
The  American  continent  discovered — Moveable  types  invented — Con- 
sequences of  the  downfall  of  the  Greek  empire — Brethren  and  clerks 
of  the  common  life — Revival  of  Literature — Universities  founded — 
The  Romish  church  descending  lower  into  vice  and  ignorance — Prog- 
ress of  religious  reformation  opposed  by  the  poliiical  and  ecclesiastical 
authorities — State  of  religion  in  the  Church — The  great  schism  of  the 
West — Two  popes  on  the  throne — Their  mutual  anathemas  against 
each  other — Three  popes  claim  the  chair  of  St.  Peter — Council  of 
Constance — Convened  to  reform  the  Church — Asserted  its  supremacy 
over  the  popes — Martin  V.  elevated  to  the  papal  throne — His  right 
contested  by  Benedict  XIII., — Controversy  between  Martin  and  the 
council — The  wine  withheld  from  the  laity  in  the  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper — The  decrees  of  the  council  respecting  the  keeping  of 
faith  with  heretics — Failed  in  its  object  of  reforming  the  morals  of  the 
clergy — Council  at  Basle — Controversy  with  Eugenius  IV., — The 
members  are  excommunicated — The  pope  is  formally  deposed,  and 
Amadseus,  duke  of  Savoy,  elevated  to  the  pontificate — Council  at  Fer- 
rara  and  at  Florence — Adjournment  of  the  councils  without  any  bene- 
ficial results — Influence  of  their  proceedings  on  the  Reformation — 
Triumph  of  the  popes  over  the  councils — Popes,  &c., — Remarks  on 
the  apostolic  succession — Visible  declension  of  the  papal  power — Re- 
ligious factions  distract  the  Church — Last  eflort  to  unite  the  Greek  and 
Latin  churches.     From  page  259  to  278. 

CHAPTERXII. 

FIFTEENTH  CENTURY. 

Progress  of  the  Reformation — The  vices  of  the  clergy,  and  the  de- 
graded state  of  the  Church,  acknowledged  by  all  classes  of  the  peo- 
ple— Tolerant  spirit  of  the  counts  of  Savoy — Persecution  of  the  Vau- 
dois — Martyrdom  of  John  Huss — His  safe-conduct — Upon  what  prin- 
ciples violated  by  the  council  of  Constance — Popish  doctrine  of  not 
keeping  faith  with  heretics — The  authorities  which  sustain  that  doc- 
trine— Exemplified  in  the  proceedings  of  the  council  of  Trent  in  the 
sixteenth  century — Jerome  of  Prague  martyred — Persecutions  in  Scot- 
land— Bohemia — Ancient  history — Introduction  of  Christianity — The 
rites  of  the  Greek  church  established — The  doctrines  of  Waldo  intro- 
duced— The  spirit  of  the  Bohemian  reformers  excited  by  the  martyr- 


XVI.  CONTENTS. 

dom  of  Huss — Popular  commotions — Mount  Tabor — Resistance  against 
the  government — John  Ziska — Success  of  the  Taborites — Compromise 
effected  with  the  Calixtines  by  yielding  to  them  the  partaking  of  the 
sacrament  in  both  kinds — War  between  the  Taborites  and  the  Calix- 
tines— Concluded  by  the  death  of  Procopius — The  Taborites  overcome 
and  dispersed — The  Bohemian  brethren  assembled  on  the  borders  of 
Silesia  and  Moravia — Their  Church  organized — The  United  Breth- 
ren— Their  religious  doctrines  and  government — Persecuted  by  the 
papists — Summary  notice  of  them  to  eighteenth  century — The  Vau- 
dois — Their  cruel  persecution  by  Innocent  VIII., — His  bull  for  their 
extermination — Sufferings  of  the  Waldenses  in  Dauphine — Of  the 
Vaudois  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont — Popish  misrepresentations  of 
their  character  to  the  court  of  Savoy — Persecutions  in  Scotland — Louis 
XII.  inquired  into  the  crimes  alledged  against  the  Waldenses  in  the 
southern  province  of  France.     From  page  278  to  298. 

CHAPTER    XIII. 

SUPPLEMENT. 

The  Vaudois — Constituted,  in  part,  the  Church  in  the  wilderness — 
The  obscurity  of  their  early  history,  from  the  seclusion ;  the  convul- 
sions in  the  Western  States  of  Europe  ;  the  poverty  of  learning  in  the 
Dark  Ages — Their  antiquity  proved  from  their  own  testimony — Their 
character,  from  the  Noble  Lesson  ;  their  Confession  of  Faith  ;  their 
early  records ;  the  acknowledgment  of  their  enemies — Manuscript 
chronicle  in  the  Abbey  of  Corvey — Their  Confession  of  Faith  in  the 
year  1120 — Another  in  the  same  century — Their  government  and  or- 
dinances— Testimony  of  John  Paul  Perrin — Of  ^neas  Sylvius — 
Their  Pastors — (Question  as  to  lay-elders — Deacons — Their  rite  of 
Baptism — Ciuestion  as  to  the  Baptism  of  infants — Authorities  referred 
to — The  doctrines  in  their  Confession  of  Faith  compared  with  the  pro- 
positions of  Luther — The  Vaudois  of  the  twelfth  century  purer  in  the 
reform-tenets  than  Luther — Their  supposed  number  in  the  beginning 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  in  the  nineteenth — The  multitudts  des- 
troyed by  persecution  through  successive  ages.    From  page  298  to  309. 

Appendix. — From  page  309  to  314. 

The  Christian  Era. — From  page  314  to  319. 

A  Chronological  Table. — From  page  319  to  339. 


PKIKOJSTOIT 


THE   CHURCH  OF  CHRIST. 
CHAPTER    I. 


The  Church  was  the  subject,  in  the  divine  counsels,  of  the 
everlasting  covenant  of  Redemption.  God  said,  in  the  language 
of  the  inspired  Psalmist — "t  have  made  a  covenant  with  my  cho- 
sen ;  thy  seed  will  I  establish  for  ever,  and  build  up  thy  throne 
to  all  generations.  I  will  make  him  my  first  born,  higher  than  the 
kings  of  the  earth.  My  covenant  shall  stand  fast  with  liim."  The 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  in  his  epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  extols  the 
spiritual  blessings  of  God  in  Christ  bestowed  upon  believers,  ac- 
cording as  he  had  chosen  them  in  him  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world;  and  in  the  epistle  to  Timothy,  he  speaks  of  them  as  being 
saved,  and  called  with  a  holy  calling,  not  according  to  their  works, 
but  according  to  his  own  purpose  and  grace,  which  was  given 
them  in  Christ  Jesus  before  the  world  began.  Upon  this  covenant 
of  Redemption  are  founded  all  the  merciful  and  providential  dis- 
plays of  God's  love  towards  his  people.  According  to  it  he  be- 
stows his  grace  ;  and  from  it  sprang  the  gospel  of  peace.  A  seed 
which  should  prolong  his  days — or  the  General  Assembly  and 
church  of  the  first-born — was  promised  to  Christ  by  this  covenant 
as  the  condition  of  his  propitiatory  sacrifice  for  sin,  (Isaiah  liii.) 
The  existence  of  this  invisible  and  catholic  Church,  and  the  salva- 
tion of  all  believers  through  the  dispensations  of  grace,  are  equally 
embraced  by  it. 

The  declaration  of  God,  after  the  first  transgression,  that,  "  The 
seed  of  the  woman  shall  bruise  the  serpent's  head,"  was  the  first 
revelation  to  the  inhabitants  of  this  world,  of  the  plan  of  redemp- 
tion. This  was  announced  before  the  tenants  of  Paradise  were 
expelled  from  the  garden,  and  the  flaming  sword  of  the  cherubim 
displayed  for  preserving  the  tree  of  life. 

When  "men  began  to  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord,"i  ^  visi- 
ble church  of  Christ,  or  an  Assembly  of  true  Believers,  was  estab- 
lished on  earth.  This  was  in  the  life-time  of  the  first  progenitors 
of  the  human  race. 

'Genesis  iv.  26.     In  tlie  marginal  reference — "  To  call  themselves  by  tlie  name 
of  the  Lord." 


18  THE   CHURCH  OF  CHRIST, 

That  acts  of  worship  had  been  previously  performecl,  is  express- 
ly stated  in  the  case  of  Abel,  who,  by  faith  offered  unto  God  a 
more  excellent  sacrifice  than  Cain.  This  sacrifice  was  doubtless 
expiatory,  as  a  means  of  propitiating  the  divine  favor,  and  prefig- 
urative  or  typical  of  that  great  atoning  sacrifice  which  woukl  make 
reconciliation  for  iniquity,  and  bring  in  everlasting  righteousness. 
It  was  therefore,  truly  founded  on  the  promise  after  the  fall.  "  It 
was  expressive  of  a  sense  of  guilt,  of  the  necessity  of  an  atone- 
ment, of  submission  to  this  vicarious  mode  of  expiation,  and  .of 
faith  in  the  promised  Mediator."  Thus  simultaneously  with  the 
sentence  of  condemnation  for  man's  first  act  of  disobedience,  was 
the  revelation  of  a  provision  for  pardon  and  salvation,  through  the 
atoning  sacrifice  of  the  lamb  slain  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.  And  it  may  be  here  remarked,  that  this  principle  of  inter- 
cession between  the  supreme  Being  and  the  fallen  race  of  man,  has 
accordingly  prevailed  throughout  all  ages,  and  in  all  nations,  how- 
ever degraded  in  heathenism  and  ignorance. 

Although  the  wickedness  of  man  was  great  before  the  general 
destruction  by  the  deluge,  our  confidence  in  the  faithfulness  of  God 
assures  us,  tiiat  he  left  not  himself  without  a  witness  throughout 
this  period  of  degeneracy  and  vice.  There  were  doubtless  at  all 
times  sincere  worshippers  who  preserved  true  religion  and  piety 
in  the  world,  and  who  are  called  in  Scripture,  "The  sons  of  God." 
{Genesis  vi.  2.)  We  are  informed,  that  Enoch  was  translated, 
having  this  testimony  that  he  pleased  God,  and,  that  Noah,  a 
preacher  of  reighteousness,  became  heir  of  the  righteousness 
which  is  by  faith.  Such  is  the  brief  history  of  the  visible  Church 
of  Christ  before  the  flood. 

Noah,  when  he  left  the  ark,  built  an  altar,  and  offered  burnt  of- 
ferings of  every  clean  beast  and  of  every  clean  fowl;  and  God  ac- 
cepted the  sacrifice,  established  with  him  a  covenant  of  mercy, 
and  blessed  him.  From  this  remnant  of  the  descendants  of  Adam 
was  transmitted  the  knowledge  of  God,  the  traditionary  history  of 
the  Antediluvians,  and  of  the  general  destruction  of  the  human 
race.  To  this  point,  as  to  a  centre,  may  be  traced  back,  the  su- 
perstitious observances  of  nations  dispersed  over  the  remotest  re- 
gions of  the  globe.  Their  several  forms  of  worship  derived  from 
a  pure  original,  became  in  the  course  of  time,  corrupted  by  an  ad- 
mixture with  rites  and  ceremonies  found(;d  upon  the  fears  and  ig- 
norance of  those,  who,  unassisted  by  the  light  of  divine  revelation, 
had  lost  all  knowledge  of  the  r(;liginn  j-)rescrv'cd  under  the  Provi- 
dence of  Cod,  in  the  family  of  their  common  ancestor. 

Notwithstanding  the  general  corruption  which  prevailed  among 
mankind  for  many  ages  after  the  confusion  of  their  language,  and 
their  dispersion  from  tlie  plains  of  Shinar,  there  is  no  doubt,  that 
the  knowlf^dge  of  God  was  preserved;  and  that  the  fear  of  his  just 
judgment  restrained  the  wickedness  of  men.     Pharaoh  acknowl- 


THE  CHURCH   OF  CHRIST.  19 

cdajed  the  visitation  of  God  upon  his  family  for  the  violence  offered 
•to  the  person  of  Sarai.  Abimelech,  king  of  Gerar,  of  the  Philis- 
tines, entreated  God  to  vvithliokl  his  judgments  against  him  and  his 
people  for  a  similar  ofl'ense.  Lot,  whom  the  inspired  writer  calls 
just  and  righteous,  was  rescued  from  the  calamity  which  befell  the 
cities  of  the  Plain.  Abimelech,  another  of  the  knigs  of  a  country 
devoted  to  destruction  for  the  iniquities  of  its  inhabitants,  proposed 
to  Isaac  a  covenant  of  peace,  declaring  that  he  saw  certainly  that 
the  Lord  was  with  him.  Job — who  dwelt  in  the  Ausitis,  on  the 
confines  of  Idumea  and  Arabia,  and  was  contemporary  with  Moses — 
and  his  friends  who  visited  him  in  his  afflictions,  were  evidently 
the  true  worshippers  of  God.  Balaam,  of  the  city  of  Pethor,  on 
the  Euphrates,  called  the  Lord  his  God.  He  lived,  A.  M.  2530. 
Ancient  history  presents  other  instances,  at  subsequent  periods, 
of  a  knowledge  of  the  supreme  Being  retained  in  the  midst  of 
an  almost  universal  prevalence  of  idolatrous  worship.  Through 
the  posterity  of  Shem,  from  whom  proceeded  the  Messiah,  the 
purest  system  of  worship  w^as  transmitted  ;  whilst  the  descendants 
of  Ham,  early  lost  all  traces  of  the  rites  instituted  for  appeasing 
the  anger  of  the  Deity  and  securing  his  blessing. 

But  God  entered  into  a  covenant  relation  with  Abraham,  by 
which  his  descendants  became  the  depositaries  of  divine  truth. 
His  immediate  ancestors  had  been  idolaters,  and  were  worshippers 
of  the  Teraphims,  which  are  supposed  to  have  been  figures  intend- 
ed for  types  or  representations  of  the  ark.  These  idols  are  still 
known  among  some  of  tlie  eastern  nations  of  Telefing,  aiid  arc  su- 
perstitiously  revered  as  possessing  an  occult  power  to  avert  evils 
both  of  a  moral  and  physical  nature. 

God  declared,  that  in  him  all  the  nations  of  the  earth  should  be 
blessed.  Through  him  the  promises  announced  in  the  garden  of 
Eden  were  to  be  fulfilled.  In  his  family  was  instituted  the  Church 
of  Christ;  and  a  visible  church  relationship  was  formally  estab- 
lished betw'een  them  and  its  spiritual  Head.  The  rile  of  circum- 
cision was  ordained  as  a  distinguishing  mark  or  seal  of  initiation. 
"  Two  purposes  were  to  be  answered  by  this — the  preservation  of 
the  true  doctrine  of  salvation,  which  is  the  great  and  solemn  duty 
of  every  branch  of  the  Church  of  God — and,  the  manifestation  of 
that  truth  to  others."  They  were  thus  set  apart  as  a  peculiar  peo- 
ple, intrusted  with  the  preservation  and  propagation  of  the  divine 
oracles. 

About  500  years  after  the  call  of  Abraliam,  the  covenant  was 
renewed  at  Sinai  with  his  descendants,  and  the  law  promulgated. 
"  The  great  moral  code,  which  is  binding  on  all  mankind,  at  all 
times,  and  under  all  circumstances,  and  the  specific  enacttnents 
which  are  only  so  many  expressions  of  that  love  to  God  and  man, 
which  is  essential  to  the  well-being  of  creation,  was  laid  as  the  ba- 
sis of  this  constitution,  and  on  this  account  it  is  frequently  called 


20 


THE   CHURCH  OF  CHRIST. 


the  Law.  Regular  forms  of  divine  worship  were  appointed.  A 
regular  priesthood  was  separated  for  its  performance.  These  all 
had  a  prospective  or  prefigurative  reference  to  a  future  and  supe- 
rior dispensation ;  or  the  second  and  new  covenant,  which  was  in- 
stituted by  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  The  former  is  therefore, 
known  as  the  covenant  of  works,  and  the  latter  as  the  covenant  of 
grace.  The  former  was  a  republication  of  the  covenant  made  with 
Adam  before  the  fall,  which  was  violated  by  his  disobedience. 
The  latter  was  the  consummation  of  the  great  covenant  of  Re- 
demption, sealed  and  forever  perfected  by  that  sacrifice  on  the 
cross,  of  which  the  burnt  offerings  and  sacrifices  which  preceded 
it,  were  but  the  types  and  shadows.  The  Israelites  in  the  wilder- 
ness are  said  to  have  drank  of  that  spiritual  Rock  that  followed 
them;  and  that  Rock  was  Christ.     (1  Cor.  x.  4.) 

Under  the  former,  the  Church  is  spoken  of  by  inspired  writers, 
as  Mount  Zion.  Hence  the  Psalmist  rapturously  declares  it  to  be, 
"  The  joy  of  the  whole  earth" — and  Isaiah  prophetically  announces, 
that  "  The  Redeemer  shall  come  to  Zion." 

As  the  period  of  the  nativity  of  Jesus  Christ  approached,  a  most 
remarkable  coincidence  of  events,  under  the  guidance  of  divine 
Providence,  prepared  the  world  for  his  advent.  That  all  nations 
expected  at  the  time  the  appearance  of  some  extraordinary  per- 
sonage, is  a  fact  known  to  those  conversant  with  the  historical 
records  of  that  period.  Such  an  impression  among  the  heathens 
who  had  not  been  in  frequent  intercourse  with  the  Jewish  people, 
and  therefore  unacquainted  with  their  sacred  writings,  must  have 
been  derived  from  traditions  of  the  remotest  antiquity  founded  upon 
the  promises  to  the  fathers.  Through  this  channel  only,  could  a 
knowledge  of  the  mysterious  dispensations  of  God  in  the  provis- 
ions of  grace  and  salvation  have  been  obtained.  The  Patriarchs, 
with  t!ie  eye  of  faith,  had  looked  forward  through  the  long  vista  of 
time  to  the  consummation  of  these  cheering  promises.  The  pro- 
phets of  Israel  had  foretold  the  future  glory  of  the  church,  when 
the  Gentiles  should  come  to  its  light,  and  kings  to  the  brightness  of 
its  rising. 

Balaam,  a  diviner  of  Mesopotamia,  1450  years  before  the  event, 
had  prophesied,  that,  "  There  shall  come  a  star  out  of  Jacob,  and  a 
sceptre  shall  rise  out  of  Israel ;"  and  immediately  after  the  nativity, 
wise  men  from  the  distant  East  went  to  Jerusalem,  with  treasures 
of  gold,  and  frankincense  and  myrrh,  inquiring,  "  Where  is  He 
that  is  born  king  of  the  Jews,  for  we  have  seen  his  star  in  the  East, 
and  are  come  to  worship  Him." 

About  three  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ,  the  con- 
quests of  Alexander  the  Great,  had  disseminated  a  knowledge  of 
the  Greek  language  among  the  nations  who  were  subdued  by  the 
power  of  his  arms.  Through  this  channel,  Grecian  literature  was 
diffused  over  a  large  portion  of  the  East.     The  Hebrew  language 


THE   CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 


n 


was  not  then  spoken  in  its  original  purity  by  the  Jewish  people. 
The  Macedonic — Alexandrine  dialect  was  the  vernacular  of  the 
colonies  planted  in  Alexandria  and  the  neighboring-  provinces  by 
Alexander.  The  translation  of  the  sacred  writings  into  this 
tongue,^  by  Jewish  interpreters,  for  their  public  worship  in  the 
synagogues,  communicated  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures  to  the 
surrounding  nations,  and  prepared  them  for  the  reception  of  the 
gospel,  and  facilitated  the  propagation  of  the  christian  doctrines 
throughout  the  East. 

In  the  West,  the  wonderful  Providence  of  God  in  providing  for 
the  extension  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  was  equally  displayed  in 
the  progress  of  events.  The  Roman  Republic  was  advancing  on- 
ward in  its  career  of  universal  dominion,  and  the  epoch  was  ap- 
proaching, w^hen  the  splendor  of  its  conquests  would  be  surpassed^ 
only  by  Its  achievements  in  the  arts  and  the  peaceful  triumphs  of 
refinement  and  literature.  The  Augustan  age  arrived — and  the  his- 
torian recorded  the  greatness  and  grandeur  of  the  empire,  whilst 
the  poet  immortalized  its  munificence  and  its  generous  patronage  of 
the  Muses.  At  the  close  of  the  40th  century  Rome  had  become 
the  mistress  of  the  world.  Its  distant  provinces  were  reduced  to 
subjection ;  peace  was  established  throughout  its  widely  extended 
domain,  and  the  Temple  of  Janus  closed.  The  calmness  and  seren- 
ity of  the  dawn  seemed  about  to  usher  in  a  new  day  of  life,  giving 
light  and  elfulgence,  such  as  had  never  before  beamed  upon  a  dark- 
ened and  benighted  world.  The  Poet  of  Mantua,  in  strains  glow- 
ing with  the  fervor  of  inspiration,  announced  the  arrival  of  the  last 
age,  piedicted  by  the  Cumaan  Sibyl, — the  beginning  of  the  great 
series  of  revolving  years.  "  Now  a  new  progeny  from  high  hea- 
ven descends.  By  whom  first  the  iron  Age  shall  cease,  and  the 
Golden  Age  over  all  the  world  arise.  This  glory  of  our  age  shall 
make  his  entrance ;  and  the  great  months  begin  to  roll.  He  shall 
partake  of  the  life  of  gods;  and  rule  the  peaceful  world  with  his 
Father's  virtues.  The  Destinies,  harmonious  in  the  established  or- 
der of  the  Fates,  sang  to  their  spindles — '  Ye  so  happy  ages,  run, 
haste  forward  to  the  birth.'  Bright  offspring  of  the  gods,  illustri- 
ous progeny  of  Jove,  set  forward  on  ihy  way  to  signal  honors. 
The  time  is  now  at  hand !" 

The  Jewish  nation  had  been  reduced  to  the  condition  of  a  Ro- 
man province;  and  by  their  own  computations,  founded  on  their 
sacred  records,  an  opinion  generally  prevailed  that  at  that  time 
there  would  appear  a  prince  and  savior  who  would  not  only  restore 
the  ancient  government  in  Judea,  but  that  he  would  obtain  the  em- 
pire of  the  world.  This  expectation  excited  them  to  a  rebellion 
against  the  Roman  authority,  and  precipitated  their  destruction. 
False  prophets  arose  in  succession  who  persuaded  the  people  that 

'  The  Septuagrint ;  the  supposed  work  of  seventy-two  interpreters  in  the  reign  of 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus. 


22  THE   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST. 

the  period  of  their  national  greatness  had  arrived ;  and  this  delu- 
sion prevailed,  until  the  city  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple  itself, 
were  laid  in  ruins  by  the  Roman  army. 

Tacitus,  who  witnessed  the  calamities  which  befell  the  Jews, 
from  their  obstinate  resistance  of  the  besieging  forces  under  Titus, 
and  the  cruelties  which  they  mutually  inflicted  upon  themselves, 
records  the  general  persuasion,  drawn  from  the  ancient  writings  of 
the  priests,  "  That  some  who  should  come  out  of  Judea  would  ob- 
tain the  empire  of  the  world."  Suetonius,  who  flourished  in  the 
beginning  of  the  second  century,  states  that,  "  For  a  long  time  a 
constant  persuasion  had  prevailed  all  over  the  East,  (Oriente  toto 
const;  lis  opinio,)  some  who  should  come  out  of  Judea  would  ob- 
tain universal  dominion ;  as  recorded  in  the  Books  of  the  Fates." 
The  same  writer  refers  to  another  ancient  prediction — if  the  unin- 
spired effusions  of  an  excited  fancy  can  be  received  as  such — pre- 
vious to  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  "  That  nature  was  about  to 
bring  forth  a  son  who  would  be  king  of  the  Romans."  "  Here 
nature  itself,"  remarks  the  learned  Prideaux,  "that  is,  the  God  of 
nature,  is  made  the  immediate  cause  of  the  birth ;  and  he.  must  be 
more  than  an  ordinary  person  who  was  to  be  produced  by  so  ex- 
traordinary a  generation." 

It  was  in  expectation  of  a  forth-coming  Redeemer,  that  Simeon, 
in  faith,  waited  for  the  consolation  of  Israel.  When  he  received 
the  child,  Jesus,  in  his  arms,  he  exclaimed,  "  Lord,  let  now  thy 
servant  depart  in  peace;  for  mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation, 
which  thou  hast  prepared  before  the  face  of  all  people :  a  light  to 
lighten  the  Gentiles,  and  the  glory  of  thy  people  Israel."  It  was 
under  the  expectation  that  Jesus,  when  he  rode  into  Jerusalem, 
would  proclaim  himself  the  Deliverer  and  King  of  the  Jewish  na- 
tion, that  multitudes  spread  their  garments  in  the  way,  others  cut 
down  branches  from  the  trees  and  strewed  them  in  the  way,  and 
those  who  went  before  and  followed  cried,  "  Hosanna  to  the  Son 
of  David.  Blessed  is  he  who  cometh  in  the  name  of  the  Lord ; 
Hosanna  in  the  highest!"  The  woman  of  Samaria  expressed  the 
strength  of  her  belief  in  the  advent  of  the  Messiah,  and  in  the  di- 
vinity of  his  person,  by  declaring,  that  when  he  came,  he  would 
tell  them  all  things.  Andrew  communicated  to  Peter  the  intelli- 
gence, that  he  had  found  the  Messias ;  which  is,  being  interpreted, 
the  Christ.  After  the  crucifixion,  some  of  the  disciples  declared 
that  they  had  cherished  the  hope — "  It  had  been  he,  Avho  should 
have  redeemed  Israel." 

With  these  concurring  circumstances,  the  rejection  of  Christ  by 
the  Jewish  nation  is  a  standing  monument  of  the  first  judgment  of 
God  in  giving  them  over  to  blindness  of  mind  and  obduracy  of 
heart.  For  two  thousand  years  they  had  been  depositaries  of  tiie 
sacred  oracles  of  truth  ;  they  had  been  made  a  peculiar  people  ; 


THE   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST. 


23 


distinguished  from  all  oilier  nations  as  the  marked  objects  of  God's 
especial  fav^or  and  directing  providence. 

Josephus  admits  that  the  prophecies  of  a  coming  Messiah  were 
recorded  in  the  holy  books  of  the  inspired  writers,  but  the  event 
not  having  corresponded  with  his  own  interpretation,  he  pronounces 
those  prophecies  dark  and  ambiguous  oracles  ;  and  with  a  singular 
inconsistency,  having  conceded  that  the  predictions  point  "  to  one 
of  his  own  nation,"  concludes  by  alhrming,  that,  "  In  truih  Vespa- 
sian's empire  was  designed ;  for  lie  was  created  emperor  of  Rome 
in  Judea."  Thus  did  he  substitute  a  Roman  of  mean  birth,  an 
idolater,  and  an  enemy  of  the  Jewish  people,  for  Him  wlio  was 
emphatically  predicted  of,  as  a  descendant  of  the  royal  family  or 
house  of  David ;  who  would  restore  the  worship  of  the  true  God, 
and  be  a  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles,  and  the  glory  of  the  people 
of  Israel. 

The  fullness  of  time  having  arrived,  when  the  promises  of  God, 
tliat  he  would  make  a  new  covenant  with  the  house  of  Israel  and 
the  house  of  Judah,  were  to  be  fully  accomplished,  when  the  pro- 
phecies of  a  coming  Messiah,  who  would  assume  our  nature,  and 
appear  in  the  likeness  of  sinful  flesh,  must  all  be  literally  and  cir- 
cumstantially fulfilled ;  when  Jesus  Christ  should  present  himself 
as  the  Mediator  of  the  New  Testament,  that  by  means  of  death, 
for  the  redemption  of  the  transgressions  that  were  under  the  first 
Testament,  they  which  are  called  might  receive  the  promise  of 
eternal  inheritance — an  angel,  commissioned  from  the  thione  of 
heaven,  announced  to  shepherds  near  the  town  of  Bethlehem  in 
Judea,  the  good  tidings  of  great  joy — that  in  the  city  of  David 
there  was  that  day  born,  a  Savior,  which  is  Christ  the  Lord.  This 
annunciation  was  immediately  confirmed  by  a  multitude  of  the 
heavenly  host  praising  God,  and  saying,  Glory  to  God  in  the  high- 
est and  on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men. 

The  Evangelists  have  related  but  few  circumstances  of  the  early 
life  of  our  Savior;  and  it  would  be  at  least  an  unprofitable  labor  to 
search  the  writings  of  uninspired  authors  who  have  presumed  to 
inscribe  their  own  vague  conjectures  on  the  subject,  oi  to  transmit 
the  doubtful  and  often  superstitious  traditions  they  have  received 
from  others. 

In  the  13th  year  of  his  age,  he  appeared  in  the  Temple,  and 
disputed  with  the  Jewish  doctors — propounding  and  answering 
questions — and  all  who  heard  him  were  astonished  at  his  under- 
standing. What  were  the  subjects  of  discussion  has  not  been  re- 
vealed to  us,  and  we  are  permitlcd  to  conjecture  from  his  own  de- 
claration, tiiat  he  then  advanced  those  divine  doctrines,  which  he 
afterward  enforced  by  his  wisdom  and  the  miraculous  exhibitions  of 
his  power.  But  in  this  event,  which  seems  to  have  been  incident- 
ally alluded  to  by  the  inspired  writer,  we  have  the  fulfilment  of  a 
prophecy  made  1700  years  before  its  accomplishment.     It  was 


S4  THE   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST, 

predicted  by  the  Patriarch  Jacob,  that,  "  The  sceptre  shall  not 
depart  from  Judah,  nor  a  law-giver  from  between  his  feet,  until 
Shiloh  come ;  and  unto  him  shall  the  gathering  of  the  people  be ;" 
or,  as  it  is  rendered  in  the  Septuagint  version,  "  Until  the  coming 
of  him  to  whom  it  is  reserved."  About  this  time,  Archeiaus,  (son 
of  Herod  the  Great,)  the  king  of  Judea,  was  banished  by  Augus- 
tus Caesar  to  Vienne  in  Gaul,  and  Judea  became  a  part  of  the 
province  of  Syria.  The  prophet  had  also  said,  "  The  desire  of 
all  nations  shall  come,  and  I  will  fill  this  house  with  glory."  "  The 
glory  of  this  latter  house  (the  second  temple)  shall  be  greater  than 
of  the  former,"  (Haggai.)  "  He,  in  whom  '  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  were  to  be  blessed,'  and  of  whose  coming  a  general  expecta- 
tion would  prevail ;  He  would  come,  and  his  presence,  who  is  '  the 
glory  of  the  Lord'  and  the  true  temple, '  in  whom  all  the  fulness  of 
the  Godhead  dwells  bodily,'  would  fill  that  house  with  glory,  and 
render  it  far  more  glorious  than  the  Shecinah  (or  visible  glory,) 
rendered  Solomon's  temple.'" 

In  the  26th  year  of  our  Christian  era,  the  ministry  of  John  the 
Baptist  commenced.  This,  says  the  Evangelist,  was  the  beginning 
of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  (JV/ar/c,)  and  our 
Savior  afterwards  declared,  that,  "  The  law  and  the  prophets  were 
until  John ;  since  that  time  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  preached."  It 
was  then  that  the  sixty-nine  weeks  mentioned  in  the  prophecy  of 
Daniel  expired — "  Know  therefore,  and  understand,  that,  from  the 
going  forth  of  the  commandment  to  restore,  and  to  build  Jerusalem, 
unto  the  Messiah,  the  Prince,  shall  be  seven  weeks,  and  three  score 
and  two  weeks,"  or  sixty-nine  weeks.  The  commandment  to  re- 
store, and  to  build  Jerusalem,  was  given  by  Artaxerxes  Longima- 
nus,  king  of  Persia,  in  the  seventh  year  of  his  reign.  It  was  di- 
rected to  Ezra,  w^ho  by  this  commission  was  empowered  to  return 
to  Jerusalem,  and  to  restore  the  Church  and  state  of  the  Jews.- 

John,  at  the  expiration  of  about  three  years  and  a  half  from  the 
commencement  of  his  ministry,  was  imprisoned  and  beheaded ;  and 
then  came  Jesus  into  Galilee  preaching  the  gospel  of  the  Kingdom 
of  God.  This  is  the  Kingdom  which  Daniel  had  foretold,  the 
God  of  heaven  would  set  up,  which  shall  never  be  destroyed. — 
That  Dominion  and  Glory  and  Kingdom,  to  be  given  to  One  like 
the  son  of  man ;  that  all  people,  nations  and  languages  should  serve 
him.  This  was  (he  stone  cut  out  of  the  mountain  without  iiands, 
which  smote  the  image,  and  became  itself  a  great  mountain,  and 
filled  the  whole  earth.  This  was  the  Church  of  Christ,  against 
which  the  gates  of  hell  would  never  prevail. 

Jesus  Christ,  having  laid  the  foundation  of  his  church  by  preach- 
ing and  by  miracles,  selected  twelve  of  his  disciples,  whom  he 

'  Scott's  Comiiientaries. 
*Prideaux'8  Connection. 


THE    CHURCH    OF   CHRIST.  20 

called  Apostles.  These  he  sent  out  to  preach  the  Gospel ;  giving 
them  power  and  authority  over  devils,  and  to  heal  diseases,  that 
the  authenticity  of  their  mission  might  be  recognized  and  acknow- 
ledged by  all  men. 

The  hopes  and  the  enmity  of  the  Jews  were  alternately  excited; 
as  they  flattered  themselves  that  he  had  come  to  restore  again  the 
kingdom  of  Israel,  or  Avere  ofl'ended  by  his  condemnation  of  their 
hypocrisy  and  unbelief,  and  the  purity  of  his  doctrines.  His  most 
inveterate  enemies  were  the  Pharisees  and  the  Sadducees. 

The  origin  of  these  sects  may  be  referred  to  a  period  immedi- 
ately succeeding  the  Babylonish  captivity.  Two  parties  arose, 
differing  in  their  construction  of  the  moral  law.  One  of  them  in- 
sisted upon  a  strict  observance  of  the  precepts  of  the  written  word 
alone,  and  that  by  this  obedience  they  fulfilled  all  righteousness. — 
These  were  afterwards  known  as  Sadducees.  The  other,  to  this 
written  code,  added  the  tradition  of  the  Elders,  and  superadded 
many  rigorous  observances,  which  they  distinguished  as  woiks  of 
merit,  and  by  which  they  believed  they  secured  to  themselves,  the 
praise  of  men,  and  the  favor  of  God.  These  works  of  superero- 
gation, procured  for  them  a  fund  of  merit,  which  imparted  a  supe- 
rior excellence  unattainable  by  an  obedience  of  the  written  law 
only,  and  elevated  them  above  all  others.  These  were  the  doc- 
trines at  a  later  period  of  the  sect  of  the  Pharisees. 

At  the  time  of  our  Savior's  appearance  on  earth,  the  Sadducees 
maintained  that  there  was  no  resurrection  of  the  dead.  They  de- 
nied all  spiritual  existences,  except  God:  and  consequently  did  not 
believe  in  future  rewards  and  punishments.  They  acknowledged 
the  authority  of  the  Pentateuch  only.  They  extended  the  doctrine  of 
free-agency  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Deity  from  any  control  over 
the  thoughts  and  actions  of  men. 

The  Pharisees  believed  in  the  existence  of  the  soul,  and  in  the 
resurrection.  Josephus  has  charged  them  with  maintaining  the 
doctrine  of  the  Metempsychosis,  or  the  transmigration  of  the  soul 
from  one  body,  after  death,  into  another.  It  has  been  questioned 
however,  with  good  reason,  whether,  as  a  sect,  they  were  the  dis- 
ciples of  the  Pythagorean  school  of  Philosophy.  Nothing  is  al- 
leged against  them  on  this  ground  in  the  Scripture  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, notwithstanding  the  unsparing  denunciations  against  them 
by  our  Savior.  In  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  it  is  said,  "The  Sad- 
ducees say  there  is  no  resurrection,  neither  angel  nor  spirit;  but  the 
Pharisees  confess  both." 

The  question  proposed  by  the  disciples  to  Christ,  "  Master,  who 
did  sin,  this  man  or  his  parents,  that  he  was  born  blind .'"'  must 
have  been  founded,  either  upon  a  belief  in  this  doctrine  of  transmi- 
gration, or,  on  the  opinion  of  a  ])re-existing  state  of  the  soul,  of 
which  there  is  no  consciousness  after  its  reunion  with  the  body ;  and 
of  its  accountability  in  this  mysterious  and  incomprehensible  state 


26  THE    CHURCH    OF   CHRIST. 

of  pre-existence,  by  which  it,  is  amenable  when  united  with  the 
body,  and  hence,  the  infliction  of  sorrows  and  pains,  render  the 
dispensations  of  Providence,  on  those  who  are  yet  incapable  from 
immaturity  of  age  of  committing  sin.  Upon  this  principle  some  of 
the  ancient  philosophers  have  accounted  for  the  unequal  distribu- 
tion of  blessings  in  this  life. 

It  was  believed  by  some  of  the  Jews,  that  Christ  was  John  the 
Baptist ;  by  others,  Elias,  Jeremias,  or  one  of  the  prophets.  Her- 
od, himself,  appears  to  have  been  perplexed  on  the  subject. 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  was  an  article  of  faith  among 
the  Jews,  from  the  remotest  period  in  their  history.  It  was,  no 
doubt,  a  revealed  truth.  Job  expressly  declares  it.  In  the  Book 
of  Psalms,  in  Isaiah,  Ezekiel,  and  in  the  Maccabees,  it  is  plainly 
taught.  It  was,  no  doubt,  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  faith  from 
Abraham  to  Christ,  with  the  exception  of  the  small  sect  of  the 
Sadducees,  When  Christ  assured  Martha  that  Lazarus  would  rise 
again,  she  replied,  "  I  know  that  he  shall  rise  again  in  the  resur- 
rection at  the  last  day,"  which  implied  a  belief  in  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  as  well  as  the  soul,  and  of  which,  from  the  simplicity 
and  readiness  of  her  answer,  she  seemed  to  have  entertained  no 
doubt.  Job  declares  his  confidence,  that,  although  worms  shall 
destroy  his  body,  in  his  flesh  he  would  see  God.  EzekiePs  vision 
of  the  bones  restored  to  life,  with  flesh  and  skin,  by  the  breath  of 
the  spirit,  was  but  a  figurative  annunciation  of  a  general  resurrec- 
tion. The  Athenians,  however,  with  all  their  refined  theories  and 
metaphysical  reasoning,  were  unable  to  comprehend  the  doctrine 
when  Paul  boldly  preached  it  on  Mars'  Hill,  "  for  some  of  them 
mocked,  and  others  said,  we  will  hear  thee  again  of  this  matter." 
The  Pharisees  believed,  that,  fastings,  almsgiving,  ablutions, 
confessions,  and  mortifications  of  the  flesh,  sufficiently  atoned  for 
sin.  They  received  the  traditions  of  the  Elders  as  of  equal  au- 
thority with  the  written  law.  In  all  these,  with  their  idea  of  mer- 
itorious works  of  supererogation,  and  the  concealment  of  the  most 
abominable  vices  under  the  cloak  of  extraordinary  sanctity,  they 
prefigured,  with  most  remarkable  exactness  and  truth,  the  Popish 
clergy  of  more  modern  date. 

The  Scribes  mentioned  in  Scripture,  were  not  a  distinct  sect. — 
The  title  was  generally  applied  to  those  engaged  in  literary  pur- 
suits. They  were  also  called  doctors  of  the  law,  and  were,  for 
the  most  part,  Pharisees  in  doctrines ;  and  therefore,  the  denuncia- 
tions of  the  Savior  were  directed  to  them  as  equally  under  the 
same  sentence  of  condemnation.  Scribe  and  lawyer  were  used  as 
convertible  terras. 

The  flerodians  were  of  recent  origin  in  our  Savior's  time.  They 
differed  from  the  Pharisees  in  their  willingness  to  submit  to  the 
Roman  government.  They  combined,  however,  when  they  de- 
signed to  entrap  Christ  by  the  question,  whether  it  was  lawful  to 


THE   CHURCH    OP   CHRIST.  27 

pay  tribute  to  Caesar,  or  not?  A  direct  reply,  either  in  the  affirm- 
ative or  negative,  would  have  given  to  one  of  the  parties  a  ground 
of  accusation  against  him.  This  sect  maintained,  that,  idolatrous 
practices  in  religion  were  excusable  with  those  coerced  by  superior 
authority.  Herod,  who  was  its  founder,  acted  according  to  this 
principle  from  political  motives.  He  was  all  things  to  all  men, 
that  he  might  deceive  all.  Their  whole  system  was  one  of  du- 
plicity and  cunning;  Jesuitical  in  its  conception,  and  papal  in  its 
practice.  It  was  probably  against  this  prominent  characteristic  of 
the  Herodians  that  the  disciples  were  warned,  when  Christ  told 
them  to  beware  of  the  leaven  of  Herod.  They  were,  by  way  of 
reproach,  called  half-Jews,  professing  the  Jewish  religion,  but  con- 
forming, when  policy  justified  their  apostacy,  with  the  idolatrous 
worship  of  the  heathens.  In  the  narrations  of  the  same  occur- 
rence, Matthew  mentions  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees,  and  of  the 
Sadducees ;  hut  Mark,  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees  and  the  leaven 
of  Herod.  From  which  we  must  infer,  that  the  doctrines  of  the 
Sadducees  and  of  the  Herodians,  were  either  the  same,  or  equally 
offensive  to  Christ. 

Notwithstanding  the  lessons  of  humility  and  of  self-denial  which 
the  Savior  frequently  impressed  upon  his  apostles  and  which  were 
exemplified  in  his  own  person  throughout  his  ministry ;  a  spirit  of 
ambition,  and  an  aspiring  after  supremacy  in  rank,  excited  expect- 
ations and  hopes  which  they  could  neither  suppress  nor  conceal 
from  his  observation.  They  reasoned  among  themselves  who  should 
be  greatest  in  his  kingdom ;  and  James  and  John  petitioned  that 
they  might  be  exalted  to  seats  on  his  right  hand  and  on  his  lefl. — 
His  reply  was,  "  Whosoever  of  you  will  be  the  chiefest  {protoSy 
first)  shall  be  servant  {doulos^  slave)  of  all."  This  controversy  was 
renewed  at  the  last  Passover,  after  the  administration  of  the  sacra- 
ment, and  when  his  ministry  on  earth  was  closed.  Assuredly,  at 
such  a  time  and  on  that  solemn  occasion,  when  he  knew  that  his 
hour  was  come,  and  that  he  would  soon  be  delivered  up  to  be  cru- 
cified, he  would  not  have  omitted,  had  he  designed  it,  to  confer  on 
Peter,  that  supreme  apostolic  authority  which  has  been  claimed  for 
him  by  those  who  have  assumed  to  be  his  successors  in  office. 
"But he  said  unto  thern.  He  that  is  greatest  among  you  let  him  be 
as  the  younger  ;  and  he  that  is  chief,  as  he  that  doth  serve."  But 
what  should  have  humbled  the  aspirations  of  Peter,  had  he  cher- 
ished a  belief  of  any  superior  excellence  in  himself,  had  he  ad- 
vanced any  pretensions  to  a  claim  of  infallibility,  and  what  must 
have  weakened  the  confidence  of  the  other  apostles,  had  they  been 
disposed  to  acknowledge  in  him  a  priority  of  rank — Christ  imme- 
diately warns  him  of  the  temptation  which  awaited  him,  and  to 
make  his  mortification  the  greater,  tells  him,  that,  in  tlie  hour  of 
trial  he  would  deny  him  as  his  Lord  and  Master.  Why  was  Peter 
thus  selected  and  exposed  to  a  temptation  which  Christ  foresaw 


28  THE   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST. 

would  overcome  him,  and  overwhelm  him  with  confusion  and 
shame?  It  was  to  Peter  that  on  a  previous  occasion  he  addressed 
this  severe  rebuke,  "Get  thee  behind  me,  Satan,  for  thou  savorest 
not  the  things  that  be  of  God,  but  the  things  that  be  of  men."  It 
was  Peter,  whom,  at  another  time,  he  charged  with  doubting,  and 
with  having  little  faith.  Peter  thrice  denied  him  at  the  judgment 
seat  of  Pilate,  saying,  "  I  know  not  the  man  ;"  and  confirmed  his 
denial  by  oaths  and  curses. 

But  we  have  not  the  shadow  of  evidence  in  the  Scriptures,  of 
any  peculiar  powers  having  been  conceded  to  Peter  by  the  apos- 
tles ;  jior  does  it  any  where  appear  that  he  assumed  to  himself  the 
exercise  of  prerogatives  appertaining  to  the  apostolic  office,  not 
common  to  them  all.  In  his  Epistle,  he  styles  himself  a  fellow 
Presbyter^^  and  forbids  those  who  had  the  oversight  of  the  churches 
to  lord  it  over  God's  heritage.  Although  ardent  in  his  tempera- 
ment, and  hasty  in  his  resolves,  which  were  the  characteristics  of 
the  Galileans,  he  was  patient  under  rebuke,  and  prompt  to  apolo- 
gize whenever  his  warmth  of  feeling  may  have  led  him  into  indis- 
cretions. He  was  an  humble  and  sincere  follower  of  Christ,  and 
a  fearless  and  zealous  preacher  of  the  Gospel.  His  labors  and 
perils  in  the  propagation  of  the  truth,  were  not  surpassed  by  those 
of  any  other  of  the  apostles. 

When  Jesus  had  removed  from  their  minds  whatever  ideas  they 
may  have  entertained  of  a  distinction  of  rank  among  themselves,  or 
of  a  right  of  pre-eminence  in  one  above  another,  he  addressed  them 
all  in  the  following  words:  "  Whatsoever  ye  shall  bind  on  earth, 
shall  be  bound  in  heaven :  and  whatsoever  ye  shall  loose  on  earth, 
shall  be  loosed  in  heaven." 

After  his  resurrection  he  appeared  among  his  disciples,  and 
breathing  on  them,  said,  "  Receive  ye  the  Holy  Ghost ;  whose  soever 
sins  ye  remit,  they  are  remitted  unto  them  ;  <ind  whose  soever  sins  ye 
retain,  they  are  retained."  "  He  afterward  appeared  unto  the  elev- 
en, as  they  sat  at  meat,  and  upbraided  them  with  their  unbelief  and 
hardness  of  heart,  because  they  believed  not  on  them  which  had 
seen  him  after  he  was  risen."  And  he  said  unto  them,  "Go  ye  mto 
all  the  world,  and  preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature.  He  that 
believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved ;  but  he  that  believeth  not 
shall  be  damned."  "  So  then,  after  the  Lord  had  spoken  unto 
them,  he  was  received  up  into  heaven,  and  sat  on  the  right  hand  of 
God." 

In  the  33d  year  of  our  Christian  era,  and  in  the  37th  year  after 
the  nativity  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ,  the  seventy 
weeks  of  Daniel  expired.  If  then,  we  calculate  from  this  year 
back,  490  years,  we  shall  be  carried  to  the  very  year  when  Ezra 
was  commissioned  by  Artaxerxes  Longimanus,  to  return  to  Jerusa- 
Jem,  and  to  restore  and  to  build  the  city. 

»  1  Peter  v.  1,  2,  3. 


THE    CHURCH   OF   CHRIST.  »» 

In  the  9th  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Daniel,  it  is  written,  "  Sev- 
enty weeks  are  determined  upon  thy  people,  and  upon  thy  Holy 
City,  to  finish  the  transgression,  and  to  make  an  end  of  sins,  and  to 
make  reconciliation  for  iniquity,  and  to  hring  into  everlasting  right- 
eousness, and  to  seal  up  the  vision  and  the  prophecy,  and  to  anoint 
Most  Holy." 

There  are  three  periods  referred  to  in  this  chapter  of  Daniel. 
The  first,  comprising  seven  weeks  or  49  years,  relates  to  the  re- 
building of  the  city  and  the  Temple,  and  thereby  the  restoring  of 
the  Church.  These  were  accomplished  by  Ezra  and  Nehemiah. 
And  here  closed  the  Scripture  of  the  Old  Testament.  The  second 
period  extends  from  the  termination  of  those  seven  weeks  to  the 
beginning  of  the  last  or  seventieth,  and  embraces  sixty-two  weeks, 
or  434  years.  And  here  closed  properly  the  covenant  of  works, 
or  the  Dispensation  under  the  Law,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the 
seventieth  week  began  the  covenant  of  Grace.  "  The  law  and  the 
prophets  were  until  John,  since  that  time  the  Kingdom  of  God  is 
preached."  At  this  exact  period  of  time,  or  in  the  beginning  of 
the  seventieth  week,  John  the  Baptist  commenced  his  ministry — 
preaching  the  Baptism  of  Repentance  for  the  remission  of  sins — 
saying,  "  There  cometh  One  mightier  tlian  I,  after  me,  the  latchet  of 
whose  shoes  I  am  not  worthy  to  stoop  down  and  unloose."  "  This, 
says  the  Evangelist,  Mark,  was  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel  of 
Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God."  The  third  period,  or  one  week, 
closed  when  Christ's  ministry  on  earth  was  terminated  by  his  cru- 
cifixion and  death.^ 

The  prophecy  declares,  that,  the  Messiali  shall  be  cut  olf,  but 
not  for  himself;  and  the  people  of  the  Prince  that  shall  come,  shall 
destroy  the  city  and  the  sanctuary.  After  the  confirmation  of  the 
covenant,  the  sacrifice  and  the  oblation  would  cease. 

By  the  great  sacrifice  then  made  in  his  own  person  on  the  cross, 
reconciliation  for  iniquity  was  secured,  and  this  being  done,  once 
for  all,  there  was  needed  no  other  sacrifice  for  sin,  the  burnt  offer- 
ings and  oblations  under  the  former  dispensation  having  been  but 
prefigurations  and  types  of  this. 

In  the  70th  year  of  the  Christian  era,  the  destruction  of  the  city 
and  the  Temple  by  the  Romans,  fulfilled  the  closing  sentence  of  a 
prophecy  uttered  six  hundred  and  forty  years  before  the  event,  and 
was  the  literal  accomplishment  of  the  calamities  which  God  had 
threatened  to  visit  upon  the  Jewish  peoiile  fifteen  hundred  and 
twenty  years  before  their  occurrence.  A  nation  of  a  fierce  coun- 
tenance, under  the  standard  of  the  Eagle,  besieged  Jerusalem  in 
all  its  gates,  until  its  high  and  fenced  walls  were  broken  down.  In 
the  distress  of  that  devoted  people,  the  tender  and  delicate  woman, 
which  would  not  adventure  to  set  the  sole  of  her  foot  uj)on  the 
ground  for   delicatencss  and  tenderness,  consumed   secretly,  the 

'  Prideaux's  Connection. 


so  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  ceiilury' 

fruit  of  her  own  body ;  and  their  afflictions  were  such  as  never 
Jiad  been  since  the  bei^inning  of  the  world,  nor  ever  shall  be.  The 
Temple  was  utterly  demolished,  so  that  not  one  stone  was  left  upon 
another  which  was  not  thrown  down,  and  the  Jews  became  a  prov- 
erb, and  a  by-word,  and  an  astonishment  among  all  nations.  The 
sacrifice  and  the  burnt  oficrings  have  ceased,  and  the  order  of  the 
Priesthood  has  been  abolished.  All  these  severe  denunciations, 
and  this  wonderful  judgment  of  God,  were  fulfilled  agreeably  to 
the  prediction  of  our  Savior,  before  that  generation,  which  had 
called  down  upon  themselves  and  their  children,  the  blood  of  Him 
whom  they  had  cruelly  crucified  and  slain,  were  passed  away. 


THE  CHURCH   OF  CHRIST. 

CHAPTER    II. 

*"  The  Church  of  God  is  built  upon  the  foundation  of  the  Apos- 
ties  and  Prophets,  Jesus  Christ,  himself,  being  the  chief  corner- 
stone." 

Our  Savior  established  no  system  of  church  government;  nor 
did  he  prescribe  any  particular  form  of  public  worship.  The 
apostles  were  simply  commanded  to  teach  all  nations;  encouraged 
by  tlie  assurance  that  he  would  be  with  them  alway,  even  unto  the 
end  of  tlie  world. 

After  his  ascension,  the  disciples,  being  in  number  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty,  selected  two  who  had  continually  attended 
the  ministry  of  the  word,  from  the  baptism  of  John  to  the  day  that 
he  was  taken  up  into  heaven;  and  having  cast  their  lots,  Matthias 
was  chosen,  and  was  henceforth  numbered  with  the  eleven. 

This  is  the  first  and  the  only  appointment  made  to  preserve  the 
apostolic  succession.  The  authority  and  reason  of  this  appoint- 
ment are  expressly  stat('d  as  founded  on  floly  Writ.  Judas  had 
fallen  by  transgression,  and  it  was  written,  'Mlis  bishopric  let  an- 
otlier  take"" — "  that  one  should  be  ordained  to  be  a  witness  with 
the  eleven,  of  the  resurrection  of  Christ."  The  form  of  this  ap- 
pointment was  simple,  and  unaccompanied  with  the  ceremony  of 
the  laying  on  of  hands.  The  apostles  and  brethren,  or  the  con- 
gregated members  of  the  church,  selected  two;  and  the  choice  of 
one  of  these  was  referred,  by  prayer  and  the  casting  of  lots,  to  the 
great  Head  of  the  church. 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  SI 

On  the  day  of  Pentecost,^  which  uas  the  fiftieth  from  the  day 
of  the  vesurreclion,  the  Holy  Ghost  descended  upon  the  disciples 
in  the  form  of  cloven  tongues,  like  as  of  fire:  and  there  were  add- 
ed to  the  church  about  three  thousand  persons.  The  number  of 
believers  was  greatly  increased  after  this  miraculous  manifestation 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Within  a  short  time  after,  we  are  informed, 
there  were  about  five  thousand  men  (women  not  included)  who  be- 
lieved. The  Lord  added  to  the  church  daily  such  as  should  be 
saved.  On  the  day  of  Pentecost,  there  were  strangers  in  Jerusa- 
lem, from  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa;  as  Parthians,  Medcs,  Elam- 
ites,  Mesopotamians,  Cappadocians,  Phrygians,  Pamphylians,  Ly- 
bians,  Cretans,  Arabians,  Romans,  dwellers  in  Judca,  Pontus,  and 
Egypt.  Through  these  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion  must 
have  been  widely  diffused  over  the  most  distant  provinces  of  the 
Roman  empire ;  and  doubtless  through  this  channel  they  were  car- 
ried to  Rome  itself.  This  miraculous  exhibition  of  the  power  of 
God  must  have  been  accompanied  with  the  conversion  of  many 
from  those  distant  sections  of  the  world  who  were  then  in  Jerusa- 
lem; and  Christian  converts  must  have  planted  the  first  seeds  of 
the  church  before  the  apostles  departed  from  that  city,  and  com- 
menced the  preaching  of  the  gospel  among  the  Gentile  nations. 
Thus  had  the  Providence  of  God  provided  for  the  propagation  of 
the  truth. 

The  apostles  directed  both  the  temporal  and  spiritual  interests  of 
the  church,  until  the  numbers  of  the  disciples  were  so  multiplied, 
that  they  were  unable  to  discharge  the  various  duties  of  the  two 
offices,  and  give  themselves  continually  to  prayer  and  to  the  minis- 
try of  the  world.  At  their  own  suggestion  therefore,  "  the  whole 
multitude"  chose  froni  among  themselves  seven  men  of  honest  re- 
port, full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  wisdom,  whom  they  set  before 
the  apostles;  and  when  they  had  prayed,  they  laid  their  hands  on 
them.  This  was  the  institution  of  the  order  of  deacons,  who  were 
intrusted  with  the  secular  affairs  and  interests  of  the  church. 

Philip  and  Stephen,-  however,  both  labored  in  the  ministry.  The 
former  preached  and  baptized  in  Samaria;  the  latter,  full  of  faith 
and  power,  did  great  wonders  and  miracles  among  the  people. 

The  persecution  of  the  church  by  Saul,  who  was  afterwards 
called  Paul,  soon  after  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen,  dispersed  the 
disciples  throughout  the  provinces  of  Judea  and  Samaria;  hut  the 
apostles  remained  in  Jerusalem.  Peter  however,  in  obedience  to  a 
vision,  went  to  Cesarea,  and  baptized  Cornelius.    When  he  leturned 

'Penterost,  a  colemn  festival  of  the  Jews  ;  so  called  because  it  was  celehrated  en 
the  fiftietli  day  after  the  sixtccntli  of  iVisan,  which  was  the  second  day  of  the  Pass- 
over. In  the  priiiiiiivc  cliurch,  and  since,  it  is  known  as  Wliilsunday.  So  called, 
because  it  vvris  made  a  slated  day  for  baptipni  ;  and  those  who  were  l)aj)lizcd  were 
clothed  in  white  garments,  as  emblems  or  types  of  that  spiritual  purity  wiiich  they 
received  in  baptism. 

=Acts  vi.  8,  9,  10,  II.     Also,  xxi.  8. 


32  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  century. 

to  Jerusalem,  the  converts  of  the  circumcision  arraigned  him  for 
having  clone  that  which  they  believed  to  be  unlawful.  It  is  not  said 
that  the  a[)ostles  contended  with  him;  but  his  conduct  was  the  sub- 
ject of  animadversion  by  those  who,  in  modern  phraseology,  were 
the  lay  members  of  the  church.  It  would  not  appear,  from  this 
circumslance,  that  there  was  at  this  time  a  belief  in  the  supremacy 
or  infallibility  of  Peter.  The  general  impression  must  have  been 
unfavorable  to  him;  otherwise  he  would  not  have  been  driven  to 
the  necessity  of  defending  and  justifying  his  conduct  before  the 
church.  In  the  spirit  of  the  controversy  there  seems  not  to  have 
been  a  proper  respect  and  deference  paid  to  him  as  an  apostle. 
What  would  have  been  the  language  of  one  of  his  successors,  in 
the  twelfth  century,  or  even  in  a  more  enlightened  age,  had  a  whole 
council  of  bishops,  questioned  the  legality  of  his  decrees  .''  Instead 
of  acquiescmg  m  their  right  to  doubt  the  sacredness  of  his  prero- 
gative, or  to  dispute  the  holiness  of  his  character,  the  curses  and 
anathemas  of  the  Vatican  would  have  thundered  in  their  ears. 

The  success  of  those  who  had  preached  in  Antioch,  having  been 
communicated  to  the  apostles  in  Jerusalem,  they  sent  Barnabas 
there ;  who,  when  he  saw  that  the  grace  of  God  was  evidently 
bestowed  upon  the  Gentiles,  procured  the  co-operation  of  Paul : 
and  they  remained  a  year  in  that  city,  teaching  and  preaching  the 
gospel  of  Jesus  Christ.  Here  the  disciples  were  first  called  Chris- 
tians. At  the  time  of  the  persecution  and  martyrdom  of  Stephen, 
we  are  informed,  certain  Cypriot  and  Cyrenian  converts  fled  from 
Jerusalem  to  Antioch,  and  preached  Christ  to  the  Grecians  in  that 
city;'  "and  a  great  number  believed  and  turned  unto  the  Lord." 
It  is  supposed,  however,  that  Christianity  had  been  introduced  there 
soon  after  the  day  of  Pentecost.  There  can  be  no  doubt  therefore 
that  a  church  was  already  organized,  when  Paul  and  Barnabas  vis- 
ited it ;  which  was  about  the  year  43. 

In  the  infancy  of  the  Church  many  no  doubt  taught  and  preached 
the  gospel,  who  had  not  been  regularly  ordained  to  the  ministry. 
The  Gospel  of  Matthew  is  supposed  to  have  been  written  in  the 
year  38;  and  this  early  record  of  the  life,  doctrines,  and  miracles 
of  our  Saviour  communicated  to  distant  regions  a  knowledge  of  the 
truth  of  the  Christian  religion,  and  may  have  preceded  the  apos- 
tles in  their  missionary  labors.  Apollos,  who  is  introiluced  in  the 
Scripture  as  a  certain  Jew  born  at  Alexandria,  and  who  spoke 
boldly  in  tlie  Synagogue,  knew  only  of  the  baptism  of  John,  and 
understood  not  the  doctrines  of  Christ,  and  to  whom  Atpiila  and 
Priscilla  expounded  the  way  of  God  more  perfectly,  was  probably 
one  of  those  who  informally  entered  into  the  ministry,  but  was  re- 
cognised by  the  apostles.' 

'Acts  xi.  20,  21.  There  is  no  evidence  that  these  converts  were  cpiscopally  or- 
dained to  the  ministry— yet  it  is  written — "The  hand  of  the  Lord  was  with  them." 

''Ananias  who  baptized  Paul  is  mentioned  in  Scripture  as  "a  certain  disciple  at 
Dainasciis;"  and  as  "a  devout  man  according  to  the  law  ;"  and  not  as  one  who  was 
ordained  to  the  ministry  and  tlie  preaching  of  the  gospel. 


1st,  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  33 

A  general  famine  prevailed  throughout  the  Roman  empire  A.  D. 
cir:  44,  and  a  contribution  for  the  relief  of  the  brethren  in  Jeru- 
salem was  sent  from  Antioch,  b}^  Barnabas  and  Paul,  to  the  elders 
in  that  cit}-.  'J'his  is  the  first  allusion  to  that  olfice  in  connection 
with  the  Christian  Church.  This  office,  however,  was  an  import- 
ant one  in  the  Synagogue  of  the  Jews. 

*'  That  order  niiglit  be  preserved,"  says  Prideaux,^  "there  were 
in  every  Synagogue  some  fixed  ministers  to  take  care  of  the  religi- 
ous duties  to  be  performed  in  it;  and  these  were,  by  imposition  of 
hands,  solemnly  admitted  thereto.  The  first  were  the  eZc/ers  of  the 
Synagogue,  who  governed  all  the  afl'airs  of  it,  and  directed  all  the 
duties  of  religion  therein  to  be  performed.  These  were  the  Archi- 
sunagogoi,  or  rulers  of  the  Synagogue.  Next  to  these  (or  perhaps 
one  of  them)  was  the  minister  of  the  Synagogue;  who  officiated 
in  offering  up  the  public  prayers  to  God  for  the  whole  congrega- 
tion. As  their  messenger,  representative,  or  angel,  to  speak  to  God 
for  them,  he  was,  in  the  Hebrew  language,  called,  Skeliach  Zib- 
bor,  that  is,  the  angel  of  the  churchP  "  Next  to  the  Sheliach  Zib- 
bor  were  the  deacons^  or  inferior  ministers  of  the  Synagogue,  in 
Hebrew  called  Chazanhn^  or  overseers ;  who  were  also  fixed  min- 
isters, and  under  the  rules  of  the  Synagogue,  had  the  charge  and 
oversight  of  all  things  in  it.  They  kept  the  sacred  books  of  the 
law  and  the  prophets,  &c.,  and  all  other  utensils  belonging  to  the 
Synagogue,  &c." 

"  The  Sheliach  Zihhor^''''  continues  Prideaux,  "  was  the  ordinary 
minister  appointed  to  this  office;  but  often  others  were  extraordi- 
narily called  out  for  the  discharging  of  it,  provided  they  were  by 
age,  gravity,  skill  and  piety  of  conversation,  qualified  for  it.  Who- 
soever was  thus  appointed  to  this  ministry  was  the  Sheliach  Zib- 
bor,  that  is,  the  angel  of  the  congregation  for  that  time." 

There  was  in  the  apostolic  church  no  parity  of  office  with  that 
of  tiie  Archisunagogos.  The  title  is  no  where  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment used  in  reference  to  the  ministers  or  preachers  of  the  gospel. 
But  the  second  order  of  the  elders,  or  presbuteroi^  who  were  the 
ministers  of  the  Synagogue,  and  officiated  in  the  public  services  of 
the  congregation,  are  frequently  mentioned  ;  and  in  the  Apocalypse 
they  are  addressed  as  the  angels  of  the  churches.  There  were 
then  but  two  orders  of  ministers  recognised  in  the  apostolic  churcli,^ 
the  elders  and  the  deacons;  and  so  far,  in  its  organization  it  re- 
sembled that  of  the  Jewish  Synagogue.    The  former  had  the  direc- 

'The  Old  and  New  Testament  connected. 

'In  a  celebrated  work  called— "  The  Institution  oT  a  Cliiistian  Man," — approved 
expressly  by  Archl)isliop  Cranmer,  bisiiops  .lewcll,  Willtt,  ami  Stijlinjrflcet,  and  tin; 
main  body  of  tlie  Knglish  clergy,  tojTctlior  with  tlie  King  and  Parliament,  is  tins 
declaration — "  In  the  New  Testament  tliere  is  no  mention  of  any  otiier  degrees,  bui. 
of  deaf'ons  or  ministers,  and'of  presbyters  or  bisliops."  Dwiglit's  Tiicology,  vol.  4 
page  238.  ' 


34  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  centurj. 

tion  of  the  spiritual  interests  of  the  church,  and  were  the  teachers 
and  preachers  of  the  gospel ;  the  latter  had  the  management  of  its 
temporal  affairs.  There  seems  to  have  been  no  intermediate  order 
of  ruling  elders^  introduced  in  the  16th  century  into  the  Protestant 
Reformed  churches,  who  "  exercised  government  and  discipline  in 
conjunction  with  pastors  and  ministers." 

Paul  in  his  1st  Epistle  to  Timothy,  says — "  Let  the  elders  who 
rule  well  be  counted  worthy  of  double  honor,  especially  they  who 
labor  in  the  word  and  doctrine."  The  advice  here  given  is  intended 
to  be  applied,  either  to  different  grades  of  offices,  or,  to  those  of 
the  same  office  not  discharging  with  equal  faithfulness  and  diligence 
the  various  duties  incumbent  upon  them.  In  explanation  of  which 
it  may  be  remarked  ;  that  the  ministers,  the  apostles  as  well  as 
those  regularly  ordained  after  them,  were  intrusted  with  the  over- 
sight and  spiritual  rule  of  the  congregations  or  churches  of  which 
they  were  the  pastors. 

The  Epistle  to  Timothy  was  written  A.  D.  60.  In  the  following 
year,  Paul  sent  from  Miletus  to  Ephesus  for  the  elders  of  the 
church,  and  charged  them — "To  take  heed  unto  themselves,  and 
to  all  the  flock,  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost  had  made  them  over- 
seers (episcopous,)  to  feed  (poimainein,  to  take  care  of,  to  rule)  the 
church  of  God,  which  he  hath  purchased  with  his  own  blood." 
{^cls  ccx.)  In  his  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  chap.  13,  he  says — "  Re- 
member them  which  have  the  rule  over  you,  who  have  spoken  unto 
you  the  Word  of  God." 

As  overseers,  by  virtue  of  their  eldership,  the  fiduciary  charge 
of  teaching  and  ruling,  necessarily  devolved  upon  them.  The  term 
overseers  or  episcopous,  as  first  applied  here  to  the  elders  or  minis- 
ters in  Ephesus,  is  not  intended  as  a  distinction  of  office,  but  as  ex- 
pressive of  a  duty  appurtenant  to  the  pastoral  charge,  with  which, 
as  elders  (presbuteroi  or  presbyters)  they  were  intrusted  by  the 
Holy  Ghost. 

An  overseer,  or  in  the  Greek,  episcopos,  was  one  who  had  the 
superintendence  of  any  work ;  and  was  not  an  officer  originally  of 
either  distinction  or  honor.  In  the  2d  Chron.  xxxiv.  12,  the  over- 
seers of  the  workmen  who  repaired  the  Temple  were  called,  epis- 
copoi.  In  the  2d  Kings  xii.  1 1 ,  those  who  did  the  work,  and  had 
the  oversight  (or  ion  episcopon)  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  are  men- 
tioned in  this  sense  of  the  term.  In  Nehemiah  xi.  22,  Uzzi  is  said 
to  have  had  the  supervision  of  the  Levites,  as  overseer,  or  episco- 
pon. David,  imprecating  the  judgment  of  God  upon  his  enemy, 
prophetically  alluding  to  Judas  the  betrayer  of  our  Lord,  says — 
"  Let  another  take  his  office"  (teyi  episcopen.f 

The  term,  bishop,  from  the  Saxon,  biscop,  is  derived  through 
that  dialect  from  the  Gr :  Bios,  a  place  or  station,  and  scopos  an 

'Greek  Septuagint. 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  35 

inspector,  which  originally  therefore  implied  no  more  than  an 
overseer,  or  one  who  held  an  appoinlment  of  an  inferior  rank.  The 
apostle  however  attaches  to  it  a  distinction  by  its  conjunction  with 
the  office  of  a  presbyter  or  pastor  of  the  church  of  God.  And  it 
may  be  further  remarked,  that  the  deacon,  or  chazaniin  of  the 
Synagogue,  whose  duties  were  very  simihir  to  those  of  a  deacon 
in  the  Christian  Church,  was,  as  regarded  his  oversight  of  the  tem- 
poral ailiiirs  of  the  Synagogue,  an  episcopos,  or  bishop. 

The  term  bishop,  fust  applied  to  the  elder  or  presbyter,  as  ex- 
planatory of  the  duties  of  his  office,  w^as  soon  after  used  by  the 
inspired  writers  as  a  synonymous  term  with  elder.  At  a  later  pe- 
riod, it  became  one  of  pre-eminence :  and  finally,  clothed  in  the 
factitious  dress  of  popish  episcopacy,  its  pristine  simplicity  was 
entirely  concealed  beneath  the  splendor  and  the  gorgeous  array  of 
dignities  and  spiritual  prerogatives. 

In  the  Epistle  to  Titus,  Paul  says—"  For  this  cause  left  I  thee 
in  Crete,  tliat  thou  shouldst  set  in  order  the  things  that  are  wanting, 
and  ordain  elders  in  every  city,  as  I  had  appointed  thee:  If  any  be 
blameless,  the  husband  of  one  wife,  having  faithful  children,  not 
accused  of  riot,  or  unruly.  For  a  bishop  must  be  blameless,  as  the 
steward  of  God."  Here,  the  titles  of  elder  and  bishop  are  men- 
tioned as  appertaining  to  one  and  the  same  office. 

But,  if  it  would  give  weight  to  the  position,  that  they  are  used 
as  convertible  terms  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament,  the 
authority  of  eminent  writers  might  be  adduced;  who,  although 
Episcopalians  in  principle,  have  conceded  what  they  have  been  un- 
able to  refute. 

Bishop  Burnet  acknowledges,  that  "  Bishop  and  presbyter  are  one 
and  the  same  office."  Paley  admits,  that  "  It  cannot  be  proved 
that  any  form  of  church  government  was  laid  down  in  the  Christian 
Scriptures,  with  a  view  of  fixing  a  constitution  for  succeeding 
ages."  Dr.  Holland,  King's  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Oxford,  says, 
that  "  To  affirm  the  office  of  bishop  to  be  different  from  that  ot 
presbyter,  and  superior  to  it,  is  most  false;  contrary  to  Scripture, 
to  the  Fathers,  to  the  doctrine  of  the  church  of  England,  yea,  to 
the  very  schoolmen  themselves."  Dr.  Reynolds,  Professor  of 
Divinity  at  Oxford,  England,  declares,  that  "  All  who  labored  for 
five  hundred  years  before  his  time,  thought,  that  all  pastors,  whether 
entitled  bishops  or  priests,  have  equal  power  and  authority  by  the 
Word  of  God."  The  London  Christian  Observer,  the  leading 
Episcopal  periodical  in  England,  admits,  that  "  Episcopalians 
found  not  the  merits  of  their  cause  upon  any  express  injunction  or 
delineation  of  ecclesiastical  government  in  the  Scriptures  ;  for  there 
is  none."  Bishop  Onderdonk,  in  his  "  Episcopacy  tested  by  Scrip- 
ture," says — "  The  name  bishop,  which  now  designates  the  highest 
grade  in  the  ministry,  is  not  appropriated  to  this  oflice  in  Scripture. 
That  name  is  given  to  the  middle  order  or  presbyters  (elders,)  and 


36  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1st  ceiitury. 

all  that  we  read  in  the  New  Testament  concerning  bishops  is  to  be 
regarded  as  pertaining  to  that  middle  grade."  ^ 

This  being  admitted,  that  bishops,  and  elders  or  presbyters,  are 
terms  used  interchangeably  by  the  writers  of  the  New  Testament ; 
no  other  intermediate  officer,  between  the  bishop  or  elder  and  the 
deacon,  has  been  mentioned  by  them.  Paul  in  the  1st  Epistle  to 
Timothy,  chap.  3d,  describes  the  qualifications  of  a  bishop  and 
mentions  particularly,  that  he  should  rule  well  his  own  house; 
otherwise  how  shall  he  take  care  of  the  church  of  God.  From 
the  bishop  he  passes  on  to  the  deacon.  He  makes  no  allusion  to 
lay  elders  as  representatives  of  the  people  :  who  are  more  import- 
ant officers  than  deacons. 

In  the  Epistle  to  tlie  Philippians,  the  apostle  addresses  himself  to 
the  saints  in  Christ  Jesus,  with  the  bishops  and  deacons. 

There  is  an  Epistle  of  Polycarp,  written  in  the  year  150,  ad- 
dressed "  from  Polycarp  and  the  presbyters  that  are  with  him,  to 
the  church  of  God  which  is  at  Philippi."  In  this  he  reminds  the 
members  of  that  church,  that  they  are  subject  to  the  presbyters  and 
deacons,  as  to  God  and  Christ,"  &c.  This  is  the  only  distinction 
of  officers  alluded  to  by  him. 

In  the  4th  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  the  apostle 
enumerates  the  ministerial  offices  instituted  by  the  authority  of  Je- 
sus Christ  as  apostles,  prophets,  evangelists,  pastors,  and  teachers : 
"for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  for 
the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ." 

Upon  the  first,  or  the  apostles,  the  Church  of  Christ  is  emphati- 
cally said  to  be  built.  It  is  evident,  that  their  qualifications  were 
of  such  a  peculiar  character,  that  no  others  could  discharge  their 
duties,  or  succeed  them  in  their  sacred  office.  It  was  necessary 
that  they  should  have  accompanied  the  Lord  Jesus,  from  the  bap- 
tism of  John,  unto  the  day  that  he  was  taken  up  into  heaven :  and 
therefore  have  witnessed  his  miracles,  and  heard  his  doctrines  from 
himself;  and  that  they  were  immediately  called,  and  chosen  to  the 
office  by  Christ.  As  they  acted  under  a  divine  commission,  their 
powers  were  not  transferable  to  others.  As  they  wrote  and  spoke 
by  the  inspiration  of  God,  and  the  doctrines  they  taught,  were  the 
wisdom  of  God  and  the  power  of  God  to  the  salvation  of  believ- 
ers, no  human  being  can  assume  to  act  and  speak  with  the  same 

'See  Dwight's  Theology,  vol.  -Ith,  Sermon  151,  for  tlic  aulliority  r]iiotecl. 

'TTaviiinr  imparted  to  them  liis  spiritual  instructions,  he  says — "  Wliercfore  it  is 
necessary  that  ye  abstain  from  nil  these  things,  being  subject  to  the  prcsl)yters  and 
deacons,  as  to  God  and  Chtist."  "  Let  the  presbyters,"  lie  continues,  "  bo  tender 
and  ruerciful,  couipassionate  towards  all,  reducing  those  tjial  are  in  error,  visiting  all 
that  arc  weak  ;  not  iH'glii;cnt  of  tiie  widow  and  the  or|)lian,  and  iiim  tiial  is  puor, 
but  ever  providing  what  is  lioncst  in  the  sight  of  (lod  and  men  ;  ahslainiiig  fVoni  all 
wrath,  respect  of  persons,  and  unrighteous  judgment;  being  far  from  covetoiisness, 
not  hastily  Ijtlicviiig  a  report  against  any  man,  nor  rigid  in  judgment:  knowing  that 
we  are  all  faulty,  and  obnoxious  to  punishment." 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  37 

unerring  infallibility,  as  by  divine  authority  derived  through  them, 
without  a  fearful  responsibility.  The  apostolic  office  must  neces- 
sarily have  expired  with  the  death  of  the  apostles.  Their  duties 
were  peculiarly  those  of  episcopal  presbyters.^ 

The  prophets  were  no  doubt  teachers,  wlio  were  endowed  with 
the  gift  of  predicting  events.  They  were  subordinate  to  the  apos- 
tles. Of  these,  were  Judas  and  Silas,  who  accompanied  Paul  and 
Barnabas  from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch  with  the  Epistle  from  the 
apostles,  elders,  and  brethren.  So  was  Agabus  who  predicted  the 
great  dearth  which  took  place  in  the  days  of  Claudius  Caisar. 

The  evangelists  were  next  in  order  to  the  apostles :  for  Judas 
and  Silas,  although  prophets,  are  spoken  of  as  only  "  chief  men 
among  the  brethren."  They  were  missionaries ;  and  under  the 
direction  of  the  apostles  visited  the  churches.  Titus,  one  of  the 
evangelists,  was  left  in  Ci'ete  by  Paul  "  to  set  in  order  the  things 
that  are  wanted,  and  to  ordain  elders  in  every  city."  Timothy, 
anotlier  evangelist,  was  enjoined  by  Paul  "  to  give  attendance  to 
reading,  to  exhortation,  to  doctrine  :  and  not  to  neglect  the  gitt  that 
was  in  him,  which  was  given  by  prophecy,  with  the  laying  on  of 
the  hands  of  tlie  presbytery."  He  also  advises  him  "  to  lay  hands 
suddenly  on  no  man."  Philip,  one  of  the  deacons,  was  also  one  of 
the  evangelists.  The  title  is  particularly  applied  to  the  four  in- 
spired writers  of  our  Savior's  life.  Having  the  authority  to  or- 
dain elders  or  bishops;  they  occupied  a  rank  at  least  co-ordinate 
with  them. 

Pastors  and  teachers  were  next  in  order.  But  the  apostles,  the 
prophets,  and  evangelists,  were  also  teachers  and  preachers  of  the 
Word.  Presbyters,  elders,  or  bishops,  w'cre  titles  equally  appli- 
cable to  them  all.  Peter  in  his  Epistle,  says — "  The  elders  which 
are  among  you  I  exhort,  who  am  also  an  elder."  John  also  in  his 
second  Epistle,  writes — "  The  elder  unto  the  elect  lady," — and  in 
his  third  Epistle — "The  elder  unto  the  well  beloved  Gains." 

In  tlie  year  44,  James,  the  brother  of  John,  was  killed  by  Herod  ; 
and  Peter  was  at  the  same  time  imprisoned  in  Jerusalem.  It  ap- 
pears to  be  generally  admitted  that  the  apostles  did  not  separate 
until  after  this  period.  Herod  died  soon  after  the  occurrence  of 
those  events,  Claudius  was  at  this  time  emperor  of  Rome. 

The  prophets  and  teachers  which  were  in  that  church,  by  the 
command  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  set  apart  Paul  and  Barnabas  for  the 
work;  and  having  prayed  and  laid  their  hands  on  them,  sent  them 
away.  Paul  visited  the  provinces  in  Asia  INIinor,  and  it  was  in 
one  of  their  cities  that  he  addressed  the  Jews,  who  had  contradict- 

'Elf^ers  or  prcsl)yters,  feeding  and  taking  tlin  oversiglit  of  tlic  flock  of  God.  Seo 
1st  Epistle  of  Peter  iv.  1,  2,  3.  The  episcopal  presbyters  of  llie  second  centurv — 
distinguished  at  first  by  tlie  simple  title  of  bishops — became  in  the  close  of  that  cen- 
tury, metropolitans,  or  diocesan  bishops,  with  a  jurisdiction  c.\tcndii)jj  over  aij  en- 
tire province  of  the  Roman  empire. 


38  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  century. 

ed  with  blasphemy  the  preaching  of  the  word,  in  the  following  lan- 
guage— "  It  was  necessary  that  the  word  of  God  should  first  have 
been  spoken  to  you ;  but  seeing  ye  put  it  from  you,  and  judge  your- 
selves unworthy  of  everlasting  life,  lo!  we  turn  to  the  Gentiles." 
Having  completed  the  circuit  of  his  mission  he  returned  to  An- 
tioch 

In  the  year  52,  whilst  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  at  Antioch,  Jew- 
ish converts  from  Judea,  insisted  upon  the  rite  of  circumcision  as 
essential  to  salvation;  and  dissentions  arose  in  the  Church  which 
neither  the  authority  nor  the  arguments  of  Paul  could  pacify.  To 
compromise  these  differences,  which  threatened  a  fatal  schism, 
Paul  and  Barnabas  were  sent  to  Jerusalem  to  obtain  a  decision  of 
this  question  by  the  apostles  and  elders  in  that  church. 

And  here  it  will  be  proper  to  remark,  that  difficulties  present 
themselves,  in  the  incongruity  between  the  sacred  narratives  of  the 
events  at  Antioch,  and  the  records  of  ecclesiastical  writers  whose 
names  have  come  down  to  us  as  the  venerable  fathers  of  the  Church ; 
and  this  incongruity  has  shaken  the  foundation  of  the  papal  system 
of  episcopacy.  ^ 

If,  either  Peter,  or  his  supposed  successor  Erodius,  was  diocesan 
of  Antioch,  when  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  separated  for  the  work 
whereunto  the  Holy  Ghost  had  called  them ;  why  were  they  con- 
secrated, by  the  prayer  and  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  certain 
prophets  and  teachers,  who  were  not  of  a  higher  order  than  the 
presbyters  or  elders .''  It  is  not  said,  that  this  was  done  because  of 
the  absence  of  the  bishop  ;  nor  is  it  mentioned  in  any  part  of  the 
Scripture  of  the  New  Testament  that  ever  such  an  officer  presided 
over  the  church  at  Antioch  as  prelate.  But  if  in  the  absence  of  the 
diocesan  bishop,  the  consecration  of  so  distinguished  an  apostle  as 
Paul  could  be  performed  by  the  elders,  or  by  teachers  of  no  higher 
order,  with  the  sanction  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  what  becomes  of  the 
theory  of  the  divine  authority  under  which  the  prelates  of  the  epis- 
copal hierarchy  have  assumed  exclusive  jurisdiction  over  the  rites 
and  solemnities  of  dedicating  to  the  ministry.  Erodius,  the  ideal 
bishop  of  Antioch  and  successor  of  Peter,  is  not  alluded  to  in  any 
portion  of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

It  is  not  the  less  remarkable,  that  in  the  controversy  which 
arose  in  the  Church  respecting  the  rite  of  circumcision,  Erodius 
appears  not  to  have  expressed  an  opinion  on  the  subject ;  nor  was 
there  a  reference  made  to  him,  to  decide  the  question  by  prelatical 
authority. 

When  carried  up  for  adjudication  to  Jerusalem,  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas submitted  it  to  the  apostles  and  elders,  and  not  to  Peter, 
who  as  infallihle  head  of  the  Church,  it  might  be  supposed,  should 
have  had  an  exclusive  jurisdiction  in  the  determination  of  the  ques- 
tion. 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  3»9 

After  a  mature  deliberation  of  the  subject;  "it  pleased  the  apos- 
tles and  elders,  with  the  whole  Church,  to  send  chosen  men  of  their 
own  company  to  Antioch,  with  Paul  and  Barnabas."  Their  decis- 
ion was,  that  converted  Gentiles  should  not  be  bound  to  an  obser- 
vance of  the  legal  ceremonies ;  but  that  "  they  would  do  well,  if 
they  abstained  from  meats  offered  to  idols,  and  fiom  blood,  and 
from  things  strangled,  and  from  fornication."  They  did  not  pro- 
hibit any  of  those  rites  for  which  the  Jewish  converts  had  contend- 
ed; and  condemned,  what  a  Gentile  Christian  might  conscientiously 
refrain  from  doing. 

This  convention  of  the  Church  has  been  called,  "  The  first  gen- 
eral council."  It  was  the  last,  whose  deliberations  were  directed 
by  the  Holy  Ghost.  We  are  not  informed  that  any  one  of  the 
apostles  presided.  It  is  said,  that  "  there  was  much  disputing." 
Peter  advised,  that  they  put  not  a  yoke  upon  the  neck  of  the  dis- 
ciples, too  grievous  to  be  borne.  James  declared  his  sentence  to 
be,  that  those  from  among  the  Gentiles  who  have  turned  to  God  be 
not  troubled,  &c.  With  the  opinion  of  James,  the  assembly  agreed ; 
and  sent  their  decision  in  an  address,^  "  jfrom  the  apostles  and 
elders  and  brethren  unto  the  brethren  which  are  of  the  Gentiles 
in  Antioch  and  Syria  and  Cilicia." 

Not  long  after  this  unanimous  decision  of  the  Church  in  Jerusa- 
lem, Peter  went  down  to  Antioch.  For  a  time  he  indulged  in  a 
free  and  social  intercourse  with  the  Gentile  converts  in  that  city. 
But  when  certain  Jews  from  Jerusalem  appeared  in  Antioch,  fear- 
ing to  offend  those  who  were  of  the  circumcision,  he  withdrew  from 
the  society  of  the  Gentiles.  This  induced  many  of  the  Jews  to 
separate  themselves  also  from  their  Gentile  associates,  and  even 
Barnabas,  as  the  apostle  declares,  "Was  carried  away  with  their 
dissimulation."  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Paul  uttered  against 
him  a  severe  rebuke ;  withstanding  him  to  the  face,  because  he  was 
to  be  blamed:  and  thus  charged  him  with  dissimulation  before  them 
all.  How  demonstrably  does  this  prove,  that  Peter,  was  not  only 
fallible,  but  obnoxious  to  the  reproofs  and  censures  of  those  who 
labored  with  him  in  the  ministry.  But  how  worthy  of  our  imita- 
tion was  his  conduct. 

From  the  representations  of  his  character  by  the  Romish  church, 
and  the  pretensions  which  hate  been  raised  in  his  name  and  by 
those  who  claim  to  be  his  successors.  Christians  have  unavoidably 
received  impressions  unfavorable  to  the  humility  and  unobtrusive 
piety  of  this  zealous  and  devout  minister  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
He  has  been  too  generally  viewed  through  a  false  medium,  the  cor- 
rupt and  wicked  hierarch  of  Rome,  the  vile  representative  and 
base  counterfeit  of  a  holy  man  of  God.  The  meekness  and  truly 
Christian  spirit  with  which  he  appears  on  all  occasions  to  have  re- 

'The  simplicity  in  the  org.inization  of  the  primitive  churches  is  clearly  delineated 
in  the  scriptural  history  of  these  transactions. 


40  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  ccntury. 

ceived  the  censures  and  condemnation  of  those  to  wliom  he  was 
united  in  bonds  of  Christian  love  and  fellowshijs,  exhibits  the  true 
character  of  a  disciple  of  the  cross.  "  His  Epistles,"  says  an  endi- 
nent  writer  with  much  beauty  and  force  of  trutli,  "  are  peculiarly  re- 
markable for  the  swei^tness,  gentleness,  and  humble  love,  with 
which  they  are  written;  which  indeed  form  a  striking  contrast,  to 
the  domineering  pride  and  severity,  that  characterize  the  pretended 
successors  of  this  sacred  writer."     (Scott.) 

Notwithstanding  the  clear  manifestations  of  the  grace  of  God 
having  been  bestowed  upon  the  Gentile  converts,  particularly  in 
the  case  of  Cornelius  and  through  the  instrumentality  of  Peter  him- 
self, he  and  the  other  apostles,  with  the  exception  of  Paul,  clung 
WMth  culpable  tenacity  to  Judaism.  They  seemed  to  regard  the 
Church  of  Christ  as  engrafted  on  the  ancient  stock  of  the  old  dis- 
pensation of  the  law  and  ordinances.  Paul  understood  and  preached 
Avith  clearness — "  That  the  Gentiles,  who  in  times  past  had  been 
aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel,  and  strangers  from  the 
(Covenants  of  promise,  without  hope  and  without  God  in  the  world, 
w^re  by  the  blood  of  Christ  brought  nigh  :  and  that  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles were  made  one ;  the  middle  wall  of  partition  between  them 
having  been  broken  down." 

The  sacred  historians  have  given  no  further  account  of  Peter. 
His  missionary  labors  in  the  distant  provinces  of  the  East  must 
have  been  undertaken  after  his  interview  with  Paul  at  Antioch  in 
the  year  52.  It  is  stated  by  Dionysius,  of  Corinth,  who  lived  at 
the  close  of  the  second  century,  that  Peter  founded  the  church  of 
Rome :  and  tradition,  or  some  unknown  authority,  imputes  to  him 
the  founding  of  the  church  at  Antioch.  From  an  equally  authentic 
source  we  are  informed,  that  he  was  bisihop  of  Antioch  seven 
years  (from  A.  D.  36  to  43 ;)  that  he  transferred  his  See  to  Rome 
and  was  bishop  of  the  church  in  that  imperial  city  twenty-five 
years  ;  or  from  A.  D.  43  to  68.  Tliese  however  are  the  mere  hal- 
lucinations of  the  fathers:  if  they  be  not  fraudulent  mis-statements 
to  bolster  up  the  pretensions  of  the  Romish  church.  Peter's  mis- 
sionary labors  were  extended  over  the  provinces  of  Pontus,  Gala- 
tia,  Cappadocia,  Bithynia,  and  other  regions  in  Asia  ;  as  may  be 
inferred  from  the  address  of  his  first  Epistle  written  A.  D.  63,  in 
Babylon.  It  has  been  afiirmed,  by  writers  of  research,  that  he 
never  visited  Rome;  and  no  direct  and  unquestionable  facts  liave 
been  produced  to  controvert  the  assertion.  On  the  other  hand, 
very  plausible  reasons  have  been  advanced  to  substantiate  its  cor- 
rectness. 

The  writer  of  "  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles"  closed  his  history 
with  the  events  of  the  year  63.  Throughout  tliat  narrative  there 
is  no  statement  to  authorize  the  belief  that  any  of  the  apostles  or 
elders  was  bishop,  either  of  Antioch  or  of  Rome;  but  the  strong- 
est circumstantial  evidence  may  be  drawn  from  the  relation  of  the 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  41 

occunences  up  to  that  period,  to  contravene  it.  The  question  then 
will  recur ;  at  ^vhat  time  could  Peter  have  visited  Rome  ? 

In  the  examination  of  this  question,  the  testimony  of  the  fathers, 
who  have  written  upon  no  evidence  alledged  to  be  unquestionable, 
but  who  have  given  to  the  world  their  own  conjectures  founded  on 
traditions  or  fabulous  legends,  should  be  rejected  as  unworthy  of  a 
place  in  sober  history.  The  maxim,  that  deception  and  fraud  are 
not  only  justifiable  but  praiseworthy,  when  the  temporal  interests 
of  the  Cburch  would  be  thereby  promoted,  was  adopted  by  the 
fathers  many  centuries  before  it  became  a  fundamental  principle  in 
popery. 

PauPs  Epistle  to  the  Romans  was  written  A.  D.  58,  (Calmet)  in 
Corinth.  The  leading  object  of  this  Epistle  appears  to  have  been 
a  reconciliation  of  the  ditferences  between  the  Jewish  and  Gentile 
converts.  The  "  strangers  of  Rome,"  who  were  in  Jerusalem  at 
the  time  of  Pentecost,  were  supposed  to  have  first  planted  Christi- 
anity in  the  capital  of  the  empire.  Priscilla  and  Aquila  who  were 
then  in  Rome  (58)  had  been  banished  from  that  city  by  Claudius  in 
49;  but  had  returned  at  the  date  of  the  Epistle.  To  them  Paul 
sends  his  salutations,  as  his  fellow-helpers  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  to 
the  church  in  their  house ;  and  to  Andronicus  and  Junia,  his  kins- 
men and  fellow-prisoners,  who  are  of  note  (en,  with)  among  the 
apostles ;  and  to  many  others,  with  all  the  saints  which  are  with 
them.  Among  these  Peter  is  not  mentioned  ;  nor  is  there  an  allu- 
sion to  him  in  any  part  of  the  Epistle.  Such  an  omission  can  be 
attributed  to  the  fact,  that  he  was  not  recognized  by  Paul  as  the 
bishoj^-of  that  church  ;  and  that  if  he  had  been  there  at  the  time 
as  a  teacher  Paul  could  not  have  been  apprised  of  his  visit. 

About  four  years  after,  or  in  62  ;  Paul  was  sent  to  Rome  as  a 
prisoner.  On  his  arrival,  he  calls  together  the  chief  of  the  Jews, 
and  explains  to  them  the  circumstances  under  which  he  was  brought 
as  a  prisoner.  He  preaches  to  them  the  doctrines  of  Christ ;  and 
when  they  disbelieved,  he  tells  them,  ihat  the  salvation  of  God  is 
sent  to  the  Gentiles,  and  that  they  \w\\\  hear  it.  He  continued  in 
Rome  two  years;  and  dwelt  in  his  own  hired  house — "  Preaching 
the  kingdom  of  God,  and  teaching,  &c.  &c."  During  his  residence 
there  (from  A.  D.  62  to  64 ;)  he  wrote  his  several  Epistles  to  the 
Colossians,  the  Ephesians,  the  Philippians,  and  to  Philemon.  From 
no  one  of  these  can  it  be  inferred  lliat  Peter  w^as  there.  In  the 
first,  he  says — "  Aristarchus,  Marcus,  and  Jesus,  which  is  called 
Justus,  are  my  onlxj  fellow -n-orkcrs  unto  the  kingdom  of  God,  which 
have  been  a  comfort  unto  me ;"  and  mentions  Epaphras  and  Luke 
the  beloved  physician  as  being  with  him. 

But  the  Epistle  of  Peter  written  in  Babylon,  A.  D.  64,  is  conclu- 
sive, with  the  circumstances  already  alluded  to,  that  he  could  not 
have  been  in  Rome  previous  to  that  year,  and  was  certainly  not 
bishop  of  that  church.     The  Romish  writers,  however,  have  re- 


42  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  ccntury. 

sorted  to  the  singular  subterfuge  of  affirming,  that  by  Babylon,  the 
apostle  mystically  meant  Rome.  It  is  true,  that  in  the  Apocalypse, 
the  woman  seated  upon  a  scarlet  colored  beast,  and  upon  wiiose 
forehead  was  written  the  names — "  Mystery,  Babylon  the  Great, 
the  mother  of  harlots  and  abominations  of  the  earth,"  was  the 
emblem  of  the  church  of  Rome ;  and  whom  John,  prophetically 
speaking,  says,  he  saw — "  Drunken  with  tlie  blood  of  the  saints, 
and  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus."  This  mystical  lan- 
guage was  suitable  when  applied  to  prophecy ;  but,  unless  we  sup- 
pose Peter  to  have  written  the  name  Babylon  prophetically  of 
Rome,  as  John  did,  and  which  is  improbable,  we  must  conclude 
that  the  Epistle  was  written  in  that  city  and  not  in  Rome.^ 

During  Paul's  second  imprisonment  in  Rome,  which  was  A.  D. 
66,  he  wrote  his  second  Epistle  to  Timothy.  This  seems  to  have 
been  written  not  long  before  his  martyrdom.  This  event  is  stated 
by  Calmet  to  have  occurred  in  that  year,  but  by  other  chronolo- 
gists  in  the  following,  or  in  67.  He  says,  "  I  have  finished  my 
course  ;"  "  I  am  ready  to  be  offered  up,  and  the  time  of  my  depar- 
ture is  at  hand." 

He  complains,  that  in  his  first  defense  no  man  stood  with  him, 
but  all  forsook  him  ;  and  prays  it  may  not  be  laid  to  their  charge  : 
and  salutes  Prisca  and  Aquila ;  who  had  again  left  Rome  from  the 
persecution  by  Nero.  He  concludes,  by  sending  the  salutations  of 
Eubulus,  Pudens,  Linus,  Claudia,  and  all  the  brethren.  Paul  would 
not  have  stood  alone  in  his  defense,  had  Peter  been  in  Rome.  At 
what  time  then  could  he  have  gone  there .''  This  question  cannot 
be,  and  never  has  been,  answered  satisfactorily,  by  any  autnentic 
evidence.  That  he  was  crucified  in  Rome,  seems  to  have  been 
conceded  by  modern  writers,  more  on  the  ground  of  a  general  ac- 
quiescence of  the  fathers,  than  on  any  incontrovertible  authorities 
they  have  adduced  to  establish  the  fact.  With  no  higher  degree 
of  testimony  has  it  been  also  admitted,  that  he  organized  a  church 
of  Jewish  converts  in  that  city :  as  Paul,  with  greater  probability, 
is  supposed  to  have  founded  a  Gentile  Christian  church,  during  his 
first  visit,  or  between  the  years  62  and  64. 

The  church  at  Jerusalem  was  the  first  Christian  association  or- 
ganized after  the  ascension  of  our  Savior.  Being  under  the  im- 
mediate charge  and  instruction  of  the  whole  college  of  the  apostles 
for  many  years;  it  must  have  exercised  appellate  jurisdiction  of  all 
cases  of  controversies  arising  in  the  churches  of  the  other  cities. 

The  church  in  Antioch  became  at  an  early  period  distinguished 
above  all  the  primitive  churches  in  Asia.  Christianity  is  supposed 
to  have  been  introduced  into  that  city  after  the  day  of  Pentecost; 
but  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament  have  not  informed  us  at 
what  time  a  church  was  first  organized ;  and  who  was  its  pastor,  if 

^Scott's  Commcntariea. 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  43 

indeed  it  had  one  within  the  period  embraced  by  that  sacred  his- 
tory. Chrysostom  states,  probably  by  conjecture,  that  in  44,  when 
relief  was  sent  to  the  brethren  in  Jerusalem,  the  communicants  in 
that  city  amounted  to  one  hundred  thousand. 

It  is  not  known  when  Christianity  was  first  planted  in  Alexandria. 
We  are  informed,  however,  that  at  the  time  of  Pentecost,  there 
were  in  Jerusalem,  "  dwellers  in  Egypt,  and  in  the  parts  of  Libya 
about  Cyrene  ;"  which  doubtless  embraced  that  city.  Numerous 
colonies  of  the  Jews  had  been  transported  to  it  about  three  centu- 
ries before  the  Christian  era.  They  were  known  as  Hellenists ; 
and  the  language  they  spoke,  being  corrupted  with  Hebraisms,  was 
called  the  Hellenistic  dialect.  There  was  in  Jerusalem,  at  the  time 
of  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen,  a  Synagogue  of  the  Libertines  (of 
the  city  of  Libertina,  in  Africa,)  Cyrenians  and  Alexandrians.  At 
this  early  period  then,  and  through  this  channel,  the  doctrines  of 
the  Christian  religion  may  have  been  carried  to  Alexandria.  Apol- 
los  was  a  native  of  this  city. 

It  might  not  perhaps  be  unimportant  to  state,  that  Mark  is  conjec- 
tured to  have  laid  the  foundation  of  the  first  Christian  church  in 
that  city.  It  rivaled  for  a  time  those  of  Antioch  and  Rome;  from 
the  wealth  and  power  it  possessed;  and  long  exercised  an  influence 
in  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  Christendom. 

These  four,  by  pre-eminence,  were  called  apostolic  churches; 
and  it  will  be  seen  in  the  progress  of  this  history,  that  the  ambition 
of  its  several  prelates  disturbed  the  peace  and  harmony  of  the 
Christian  world  for  many  centuries  ;  and  their  contentions  were  not 
ternimated  until  the  imperial  city  established  a  spiritual  dominion, 
not  less  extensive  and  energetic,  than  the  political  supremacy  it  had 
acquired  over  the  nations  of  the  earth. 

There  are  several  other  churches  mentioned  in  the  sacred  Scrip- 
tures. Paul  addressed  liis  Epistles,  not  to  the  diocesan  bishops,  as 
he  doubtless  would  have  done  had  prelacy  been  established,  but 
"  To  all  that  be  in  Rome,"  "  Unto  the  church  of  God  at  Corinth,  to 
them  that  are  sanctified  in  Christ  Jesus,  called  to  be  saints,"  "  Unto 
the  churches  of  Galatia,"  "  To  the  saints  which  are  at  Ephesus, 
and  to  the  faithful  in  Christ  Jesus,"  "  To  all  the  saints  in  Christ  Je- 
sus which  are  at  Philippi,  with  the  bishops^  and  deacons^^''  "  To  the 
saints  and  faithful  brethren  in  Christ  which  are  at  Colosse,"  "Unto 
the  churches  of  the  Thessalonians."  In  his  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, he  tells  them  to  salute  for  him  all  those  that  had  the  rule 
over  them.  In  not  one  of  these  Epistles  can  there  be  found  a  sin- 
gle allusion  to  a  bishop  presiding  over  the  diocese  of  a  city  or  pro- 
vince, in  the  modern  acceptation  of  that  title.  Nor  is  there  any 
evidence  to  show,  that  either  Timothy  or  Titus,  who  as  evangel- 
ists were  empowered  to  exercise  a  superintendence  and  regulation 

'Here  a  plurality  of  bishops  is  mentioned  in  reference  to  the  churches  at  Philippi; 
which  is  conclusive,  there  coutd  have  been  no  diocesan  at  that  period. 


44  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Istceiitury. 

of  the  internal  affairs  of  the  churches  to  which  they  were  sent,  and 
to  preach  tiie  doctrines  as  communicated  to  them  by  the  apostle, 
exercised  episcopal  jurisdiction.  It  is  certain  that  Tmiothy  was 
ordained  to  the  ministry  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  pres- 
byters, (1  Tim.  iv.  14.)  Eusebius  says,  that  ''the  work  of  an 
evangelist  was,  to  lay  tl)e  foundation  of  churches  in  barbarous  na- 
tions, to  constitute  them  pastors;  and,  having  committed  to  them 
the  cultivating  of  those  new  plantations,  they  passed  on  to  other 
countries." 

Having  briefly  sketched  the  features  of  the  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment in  the  apostolic  age  of  the  Christian  Church,  the  doctrines 
which  agitated  it  at  that  period  will  be  as  briefly  reviewed. 

The  Church,  composed  as  it  was  of  Jews  and  Gentiles,  was  early 
agitated  by  the  question,  whether,  the  belief  and  practice  of  the 
doctrines  and  precepts  of  Christ,  were  sufficient  for  salvation,  with- 
out circumcision  and  the  observance  of  the  Mosaic  rites.  Tliis  was 
advanced  by  Pharisees,  who  were  uncompromising  in  their  adhe- 
rence to  those  ancient  rites.  The  decision  of  this  question  by  the 
council  in  Jerusalem,  was  for  a  time  satisfactory  to  both  parties  •, 
but  the  difficulties  were  not  removed.  This  we  are  assured  of  by 
the  subsequent  history  of  the  Church,  and  the  tenor  of  Paul's  Epis- 
tle to  the  Romans. 

The  Jews  placed  their  confidence  of  acceptance  with  God,  on 
the  rite  of  circumcision  and  their  obedience  to  the  ceremonial  law; 
to  these  the  Pharisees  added,  the  tradition  of  the  elders,  and  many 
superstitious  usages  of  their  own  contrivance.    A  compliance  with 
the  moral  law  alone  seems  not  to  have  been  regarded  by  them  as  a 
means  of  justification.    Their  doctrine  of  meritorious  works,  which 
embrace  obedience  of  the  ritual  law  and  a  religious  veneration  of 
ancient  traditions,  formed  the  strong  ground  of  their  plan  of  salva- 
tion.    In  opposition  to  this  system  of  justification  by  works,  Paul, 
throughout  his  Epistles,  urges  the  Scriptural  doctrine  of  justifica- 
tion by  faith.     He  asserts  that,  "  By  the  deeds  of  the  law  no  flesh 
shall  be  justified  in  the  sight  of  God  ;"  that  "  the  righteousness  of 
God  is  by  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  unto  all  and  upon  all  tlicm  that  be- 
lieve;" that  "circumcision  profiteth  if  thou  keep  the  law;  but  if 
thou  be  a  breaker  of  the  law,  thy  circumcision  is  made  uncircum- 
cision;"  that  under  the  new  gospel  dispensation,  "  neitlier  circum- 
cision availeth  any  thing,  nor  uncircumcision,"  that  tlicre  is  now 
"neither  Greek  nor  Jevr,  circumcision  nor  uncircumcision,  barbarian 
nor  Scythian,  but  tliat  we  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus."     With  so 
much  cmj)hasis,  and  so  urgently,  was  this  doctrine  of  justification 
by  faith  insisted  on  by  the  aj)0stle,  that  they  who  were  unlearned 
and  unstable  wrested  it  to  their  own  destruction:  and  wickedly  and 
fatally  concluded,  that  faith  without  works  was  sullicient.     And  as 
they  were  taught,  that  the  law  entered  that  sin  might  abound,  but 
that  where  sin  abounded  grace  did  much  more  abound,  they  drew 


1st  century.]  the  church  op  christ.  45 

the  inference  that  they  might  tlierefore  safely  continue  in  sin. 
Hence  were  there  nsany  ^vho  believed  that  obedience  to  the  law 
would  be  an  act  of  supererogation;  and  adopted  a  scheme  of  anti- 
nomianism.  Into  this  fatal  error  were  many  seduced  by  a  fallacy 
of  reasoning,  in  the  age  of  the  Reformation,  when  Luther  advanced 
this  doctrine  of  faith  as  taught  by  the  apostle.  The  Epistle  of 
James,  appears  to  have  been  written  with  a  view  of  removing  this 
difficulty  which  had  arisen  in  the  minds  of  many ;  and  shows,  that 
evangelical  obedience,  the  natural  result  of  spiritual  faith,  is  the 
condition  of  salvation  embraced  in  tlie  gospel  covenant. 

But  the  prejudices  of  Judaism  were  not  the  only  seeds  of  divi- 
sion which  sprang  up  in  the  primitive  church.  The  heathen  or 
Gentile  converts  brought  with  them  their  errors  of  opinion,  their 
superstitions,  and  their  tenets  of  a  speculative  philosophy,  which 
could  not  be  easily  eradicated  from  their  minds  ;  and  which  they 
endeavored  to  reconcile  with  the  newly  adopted  doctrines  of  the 
gospel.  They  had  all  been  idolaters.  And  in  the  progress  of  tliis 
history  it  will  appear,  that  the  errors  of  paganism  became  so  deep- 
ly engrafted  on  the  early  Christian  institutions,  that  neither  time, 
nor  the  developments  of  the  light  of  truth,  have  ever  entirely  era- 
dicated them  from  that  church  which  claims  to  have  received  its 
doctrines,  its  rites,  and  its  forms  of  worship  from  that  source;  and 
which  boasts  of  maintaining  them  as  transmitted  through  successive 
centuries,  unchanged  by  time,  and  unpurified  by  that  process  of  in- 
tellectual improvements  which  has  every  where  expanded  the  hu- 
man mind,  enlarged  the  field  of  science,  i-efined  society,  new-mod- 
elled political  governments,  and  ameliorated  the  moral  condition  of 
mankind.  All  other  institutions  enjoy  and  appreciate  the  blessings 
of  reformation;  the  Papal  Church  alone  venerates  the  antiquity  of 
its  construction,  as  well  as  the  antiquity  of  its  corruption.  It  clings 
to  its  follies  and  its  vices  because  they  were  attached  to  its  youth 
and  to  its  manhood  ;  and  now  that  it  is  tottering  with  the  decrepi- 
tude of  age,  it  holds  on  with  the  tenacity  of  a  dying  grasp  to  the 
burden  of  its  pollutions.  It  stands,  in  the  nineteenth  century,  a  liv- 
ing monument  of  the  superstitions,  and  paganized  Christianity  of  the 
first  three  centuries  of  our  era. 

The  Magians,  the  Cerinthians,  the  Ei)ionitcs,  the  Nicolaitans, 
and  other  branches  of  the  Gnostics,  flourished  in  the  days  of  the 
apostles,  and  for  some  centuries  after. 

The  INIagians,  or  the  discij)les  of  Simon  Magus,  who  is  partic- 
ularly mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  or,  as  they  were  also 
called,  the  Simonians,  were  piobably  the  first  heretics  who  disturb- 
ed the  peace  of  the  church.  Their  system  comprised  the  philo- 
so])hical  theories  of  Plato,  the  Mythology  of  the  ancients,  and  the 
doctrines  of  Christianity.  The  iEbionitrs  arose  in  the  first  cen- 
tury. They  are  distinguished  from  the  other  sects  more  f)articu- 
larly  by  their  rejection  of  the  Divinity  of  Jesus  Christ.     They  ob- 


46  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1st  century. 

served  the  Mosaic  ceremonies  and  rites,  and  were  supposed  by- 
some  to  liave  been  Jewish  converts.  They  zealously  opposed  the 
doctrines  of  Paul,  and  have  been  considered  as  the  founders  of  the 
sect  known  in  more  modern  time  as  Unitarians.  The  Nicolaitans 
are  mentioned  with  marked  reprobation  in  the  Apocalypse.  They 
Avere  notorious  for  their  licentious  practices,  as  may  be  inferred 
from  the  language  of  the  sacred  writer.  The  Cerinthians,  follow- 
ers of  Cerinthus,  were  also  a  branch  of  the  Gnostics,  and  main- 
tained peculiar  notions  on  the  subject  of  the  relation  between  the 
first  and  second  persons  in  the  Trinity. 

But  as  the  different  sects  which  arose  in  the  first  century  of  the 
Christian  era  were  Gnostics,  their  respective  tenets  will  be  better 
understood  by  investigating  the  principles  which  constituted  that 
system  of  philosophy  known  as  Gnosticism.  This,  it  should  be 
observed,  is  a  term  of  general  signification.  Those  who  attempted 
to  explain  the  theology  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  by  reconciling  with 
it  the  doctrines  of  the  oriental  philosophy,  were  denominated  Gnos- 
tics. Although  they  adopted  this  as  a  fundamental  rule,  and  may 
be  said  to  have  founded  their  reasoning  on  the  same  basis,  begin- 
ning with  generally  admitted  principles,  they  differed  widely  in 
their  conclusions.  Many  different  systems  were  formed,  constitu- 
ting as  many  different  sects,  and,  although  designated  by  different 
titles,  in  reference  to  their  respective  and  peculiar  theories,  they 
were  notwithstanding,  but  branches  of  the  same  root.  They  were 
Gnostics,  in  reference  to  the  common  ground  on  which  their  prin- 
ciples were  based.  Gnostics  were,  Oi  Gnostikoi^  or  those,  who, 
in  their  own  conceit,  were  endowed  with  profound  knowledge ;  as 
Simon,  the  Magian,  in  the  language  of  Scripture,  is  said  to  have 
given  out,  that,  "  he  was  some  great  one." 

As  the  Eastern  Philosophy  was  the  foundation  of  the  Gnostic 
system,  and  this  was  itself  founded  upon  a  more  ancient  system, 
the  whole  structure  will  be  better  understood  by  tracing  it  from  its 
original  principles. 

Idolatry  has  existed  from  the  remotest  period  of  which  we  have 
any  record.  With  the  exception  of  a  kw  whom  God  may  have 
reserved  to  himself  as  witnesses  of  his  truth,  (whom  he  has  doubt- 
less had  in  every  age  of  the  world,)  this  form  of  worship  constitu- 
ted the  religion  of  the  human  race,  before  the  call  of  Abraham. — 
His  descendants,  with  a  species  of  popish  triumph,  might  have 
been  asked,  VVliere  was  your  religion  before  the  promise  of  God 
Avas  made  to  your  father  in  Haran  ?  This  was  the  religion  of  the 
most  ancient  and  tlic  most  powerful  kingdoms  of  the  earth ;  and  is 
even  in  this  enlightened  age,  the  religion  of  a  numerous  Christian 
church.  This  most  debasing  exhibition  of  ignorance  and  supersti- 
tion, seems,  nevertheless,  to  be  founded  on  a  priiici])lc  which  is  the 
basis  of  pure  and  vital  Christianity,  the  principle  of  mediation  be- 
tween God  and  man.     Job  says,  "  God  is  not  a  man,  as  I  am,  that 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  47 

I  should  answer  him,  and  we  sliould  come  together  in  judgment. 
Neither  is  there  a  days-man  (mesitcs,  or  mediator)  hetwixt  us,  that 
might  lay  his  hand  upon  us  both."  This  idea  of  an  inteicessor 
prevailed  in  the  earliest  ages  of  the  world,  and  suggested  an  appeal 
to  some  intermediate  object  or  power,  which,  it  Avas  thought,  could 
present  to  the  Supreme  Being,  in  an  acce])table  form,  the  petition 
for  mercy. 

The  worship  of  the  celestial  bodies,  was  probably,  one  of  the 
most  ancient  forms  of  religion.  The  Israelites  are  cautioned  by 
Moses  against  an  adoration  of"  the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  stars, 
even  all  the  host  of  heaven."  These  were  supposed  to  be  anima- 
ted by  an  order  of  intelligences  intermediate  between  the  Supreme 
Being  and  man.  It  was  to  these  intelligences,  as  mediators,  that 
prayers  were  offered  up,  and  divine  honors  rendered.  As  these 
bodies,  were  however,  often  invisible,  sensible  representations  of 
them  were  substituted,  and  in  these  secondary  bodies,  whether  ani- 
mals or  images,  those  celestial  intelligences,  after  certain  religious 
rites  were  performed  by  the  worshippers,  were  supposed  to  reside. 
This  was  the  origin  of  idolatry.  In  the  east  the  prevalence  of  this 
form  of  worship,  and  the  multiplicity  of  the  objects  of  religious 
adoration,  gave  to  the  sect  the  title  of  Isaba  or  Host,  or  Worship- 
pers of  the  Host  of  Heaven;  and  hence,  after  the  name  of  Sa- 
bians,  applied  to  the  idolaters  of  Chaldea,  Persia,  and  other  Orien- 
tal nations.' 

This  system  had  been  refined  by  the  deification  of  those  who 
had  been  distinguished  by  achievements  of  valor  and  deeds  of  hero- 
ism. These,  in  the  heathen  mythology,  are  honored  as  demigods. 
They  were  also  supposed  to  be  endowed  with  an  intercessory  pow- 
er in  heaven  on  account  of  their  acts  of  virtue  whilst  on  earth. — 
This  system  was  the  exact  prototype  of  a  more  modern  system  of 
saint  worship,  and  which  was  a  pagan  contribution  to  the  primitive 
Christian  Church.  The  Romanists  believe  that  the  saints  in  heaven 
"  obtain  for  them,  by  their  prayers,  help  and  grace  from  God,  to 
enable  them  to  secure  the  great  work  of  their  salvation." 

That  the  whole  system  of  Sabianism,  as  received  into  the  papal 
church,  was  derived  from  a  pagan  origin,  has  been  admitted  by  the 
doctors  of  the  Sorbone,  Paris;  and  this  reason  is  given  by  them  for 
its  adoption :  "  Quod  ornnes  Pagani  semper  hahnerint  minores  Deos 
pro  siiis  Intercessoribns ;  non  est  cnitem  rationahile  quod  Chrisiiani 
haheunt  minus  privilegii  quam  Gentiles.''''  Art.  a  Facultat.  Sac. 
Theol.  Par.  As  has  been  remarked  by  a  writer,  "  The  invocation 
of  these  angelic  spirits  is,  in  fact,  a  revival,  or  rather  a  continua- 
tion of  the  old  heathen  superstition  in  a  new  shape.  The  names 
of  angels  have  been  substituted  for  gods,  saints  for  demigods,  mar- 
tyrs for  heroes,  and  churches  for  temples."     But  the  comparison 

'  Prideaux'a  Connection  between  the  Old  and  New  Testament. 


48  THE  cHuncH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  ceiituiy. 

between  tlie  pagan  and  papal  systems  of  idolatry  will  be  more  ap- 
propriately introduced  in  a  subsequent  part  of  this  History. 

Pursuing  the  progress  of  the  religious  superstitions  of  the  East, 
and  tracing  the  origin  and  advance  of  tliose  systems,  from  which 
were  drawn  the  principles  of  their  philosopliy,  and  their  theories 
of  spiritual  existences,  the  doctrines  of  the  Magi,  are  next  in  point 
of  antiquity,  to  be  considered.  From  this  source,  it  will  be  seen, 
that  the  Gnostics,  wlio  refined,  and  in  truth  new  modelled  the  sys- 
tem of  the  Christian  religion,  derived  for  the  most  part,  their  spec- 
ulative notions  on  the  relations  between  the  Father  and  the  Son. — 
Not  only  this,  it  will  be  evident,  that  the  forms  of  worship  and  of 
government  of  the  prunitive  Church,  after  the  first  century,  were 
by  insensible  degrees,  brought  to  a  remarkable  conformity  with 
those  of  the  religious  system  of  the  Magi. 

This  sect  claims  a  very  remote  antiquity,  but  had  almost  sunk 
into  oblivion,  when  it  was  revived  by  the  genius  and  learning  of 
Zoroaster.  This  Persian  philosopher  was  the  contemporary  of 
Daniel  the  prophet.  Having  become  conversant  with  the  cosmog- 
ony and  theism  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  he  introduced  into  his 
scheme,  so  much  of  those  sacred  writings  as  captivated  his  imagi- 
nation, or  were  suitable  to  his  views. 

Zoroaster  taught  that  there  is  one  Supreme  God,  the  Creator 
of  light  and  of  darkness.  Moses  had  w^ritten,  that,  "  God  said  let 
there  be  light,  and  there  was  light:  and  God  divided  the  light  from 
the  darkness." 

But  in  the  original  language  of  Genesis,  the  word  which  has 
been  translated  God,  is  a  plural  with  three  numbers,  and  this  with 
the  phraseology  subsequently  introduced  by  the  sacred  writer,  "  Let 
us  make,"  probably  suggested  to  that  philosopher  (blended  with 
his  preconceived  notions  of  two  principles,  one  the  cause  of  good, 
and  the  other  the  cause  of  evd,)  the  idea  of  two  angels,  from  the 
mixture  of  light  and  darkness,  creating  all  things.  One  of  these 
he  called  the  Angel  of  Light,  and  the  other,  the  Angel  of  Dark- 
ness, known  by  the  Greeks,  as  Ommasdcs  and  .flrimanius.  They 
are  supposed  to  be  always  in  contention ;  and  good  or  evil  prevails 
in  the  moral  and  pliysical  world,  as  either  obtains  the  ascendancy. 
There  will  be  a  day  of  a  general  resurrection,  when  a  just  retribu- 
tion sliall  be  awarded  to  all  accordini?  to  their  works. 

The  Magi  believed  that  the  sun  was  the  symbol  of  the  Angel  of 
Light;  and  fires  were  kindled  on  the  altars  of  their  temples  as  em- 
blems of  the  sun,  which  were  never  permitted  to  expire.  All  their 
worship  was  addressed  to  the  one  Supreme  God,  through  these 
symbols  or  types  of  the  Angel  of  Light,  with  their  faces  towards 
the  cast.  Their  altars  were  consequently  placed  on  the  eastern 
side  of  their  temples.  The  priests,  whilst  offering  up  their  pray- 
ers, or  reading  the  liturgy,  veiled  their  faces,  that  they  might  not 
breathe  on  the  sacred  fire.     The  service  was  pronounced  with  a 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  49 

muttering  and  rapid  enunciation,  in  which  there  was  no  audible  ar- 
ticulation, and  therefore  the  words  wliich  were  uttered  could  not 
be  distinguished  by  the  hearers.  The  liturgy  was  in  the  old  Per- 
sian language,  which  ceased  to  be  the  vernacular  of  the  country, 
and  was,  therefore,  not  understood  by  the  people,  and  but  imper- 
fectly by  the  priests.  Zoroaster  pretended  that  he  had  brought  it 
from  heaven,  when  he  had  also  received  the  hallowed  fire,  and 
therefore  their  veneration  for  it. 

With  these  several  forms  of  worship,  there  is  a  remarkable  con- 
formity of  the  Romish  rites.  Their  liturgy  is  in  an  ancient  tongue, 
the  Latin  vulgate ;  and  not  understood  by  the  worshippers.  It  is 
read  with  a  grumbling  and  inarticulate  sound  of  the  voice  which 
carries  not  a  distinct  syllable  to  the  ear.  Like  the  Magian  wor- 
shippers, the  Romish  altars  are  placed  on  the  eastern  side  of  their 
cathedrals  or  churches,  and  therefore,  the  Kebla^  (or  the  point  of 
the  heavens  towards  which  divine  worship  is  directed,)  of  the  pa- 
pists and  of  the  Magi  is  the  same.  I  refer  to  the  prominent  fea- 
tures only,  of  resemblance  between  the  two. 

Zoroaster  instituted  three  orders  of  clergy.  The  inferior  served 
in  the  common  offices  of  worship.  The  next  were  superintend- 
ents, who,  in  their  several  districts,  governed  the  inferior  clergy, 
as  the  bishops  in  the  Episcopal  and  Papal  churches,  rule  over  their 
respective  dioceses.-  The  highest  was  the  Archimagus,  or  High- 
priest,  with  whose  spiritual  powers  and  infallibility,  the  Hierarch  of 
the  Papal  church  bears  a  striking  analogy.  So  far  the  resemblance 
between  these  two  religious  institutions. 

The  Magi  denied  that  they  were  idolaters ;  so  did  the  Sabians, 
who  are  said  to  have  worshipped  the  Host  of  Heaven ;  and  so  do 
the  Papists,  who  have  their  Mother  of  God,  their  angels,  saints, 
and  consecrated  wafer,  their  gods  many  and  lords  many. 

Plato,  with  the  Zendavesta  of  Zoroaster,  and  the  writings  of  Mo- 
ses and  the  prophets;  and  the  speculations  of  the  Grecian  philoso- 
phers who  preceded  him,  established  a  system  of  moral  and  intel- 
lectual philosophy,  from  which  the  theories  and  doctrines  of  the 
Gnostics  were,  for  the  most  part,  drawn.  He  taught,  that  there  is 
one  God,  perfect  in  all  his  attributes;  eternal  and  omnipotent; 
who  gave  to  matter  that  order  and  symmetry  which  are  perceived 
in  the  universe.  But  unable  to  account  for  the  existence  of  evil, 
and  for  the  derangements  which  occur  in  the  physical  world,  he 
supposed  that  matter,  which  had  existed  from  all  eternity,  had  in  it- 
self a  principle  which  the  Great  Artificer  could  not  control ;  and 
that  therefore,  he  was  unable  to  carry  out  to  perfection,  the  design 
of  physical  beauty  and  of  moral  excellence  which  in  his  divine 
mind  he  contemplated  and  desired.  The  soul  of  man  he  believed 
to  be  an  emanation  from  God,  but  by  a  previous  mysterious  pro- 

'  Prideaux's  Connections,  vol.  1.  p.  200. 

4 


50  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  cetitury. 

cession  from  the  soul  of  the  world.  This  primary  relation  which  it 
bore  to  matter,  was  the  source  or  cause  of  an  innate  principle  of 
corruption;  and  hence  its  tendency  or  disposition  to  disobey  the 
moral  law  of  God;  which  tendency  it  derived  from  its  connection 
with  matter,  itself  endowed  with  a  blind  and  refractory  principle 
of  resistance  against  the  will  of  the  Supreme  Being.  Matter, 
therefore,  is  the  original  and  continually  acting  cause  of  all  evil. 
The  soul  is  immortal ;  and  may  be  prepared  to  return  to  the  Deity 
from  whom  it  emanated,  by  intellectual  improvement,  and  its  puri- 
fication from  the  corruptions  it  imbibes  through  its  connection  with 
the  bod}^,  and  which  are  exhibited  in  its  sensual  desires  and  its  ani- 
mal passions.  Conformity  with  the  rules  and  precepts  of  virtue 
exalts  its  character;  and  an  habitual  and  spiritual  contemplation  of 
the  divine  excellence,  ennobles  its  nature,  and  prepares  it  for  the  en- 
joyment of  perfect  happiness  in  a  future  state. 

He  believed  that  in  this  Supreme  Being,  there  are  three  Hypo- 
stases or  natures,  expressed  by  the  abstract  term.  Triad.  The  first, 
he  considered  as  self-existent,  and  by  way  of  excellence,  is  called, 
To  On.,  the  Being.  Goodness  being  the  great  and  pre-eminent  at- 
tribute acknowledged  in  this  Hypostasis  of  the  Deity,  he  is  styled, 
To  Agathon,  the  Good.  The  second  is  variously  called,  as  the 
mind  of  the  Supreme  Being,  the  JVous ;  as  his  wisdom  or  reason, 
the  Logos ;  and  as  the  Maker  of  the  world,  Demiourgos  ton  Kos- 
mou.     The  third  he  entitles,  as  the  soul  of  the  world,  the  Psuche. 

Such  were  the  Platonic  doctrines — of  emanations  from  the  Dei- 
ty, termed  by  the  Gnostics,  Jleons  or  Genealogies — of  the  Logos., 
and  of  the  Psuche.  That  philosopher  lived  about  400  years  before 
the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era.  His  writings  were  diffused 
over  the  eastern  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire,  in  which  the 
Greek  language  was  spoken;  and  his  theological  system  was  taught 
wherever  literature  was  cultivated,  but  particularly  in  the  celebra- 
ted school  of  Alexandria.  The  book  of  "  The  Wisdom  of  Solo- 
mon," was  a  production  of  the  century  preceding  the  birth  of 
Christ,  and  written  by  one  conversant  with  the  doctrines  of  the 
Athenian  Philosopher.  The  works  of  Philo,  under  the  reign  of 
Augustus,  seem  to  have  had  in  view  the  harmonizing  of  the  philo- 
sophical system  of  the  academies,  with  the  cosmogony  and  theism 
of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

The  mysterious  incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  and  the  hypostat- 
ical  union  of  his  divine  and  human  natures,  presented  new  and  dif- 
ficult subjects  of  philoso[)hical  investigations.  The  Gnostics,  who 
had  for  two  or  three  centuries  directed  the  subtleties  of  their  meta- 
physical reasoning  to  the  works  of  Moses  and  the  prophets,  now 
discovered  a  more  extended  field  in  the  system  of  the  Christian 
theology.  They  were  divided  into  innumerable  branches,  each 
maintaining  its  own  peculiar  vie\vs;  and  the  polemic  writings  of 
the  age  ui  which  they  flourished,  introduced  into  the  Church  many 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  51 

fatal  errors,  and  vitiated  for  centuries  the  pure  orthodoxy  of  the 
Christian  faith.  At  the  close  of  the  third  century  these  controver- 
sies had  subsided,  and  were  for  a  short  time  silenced  by  the  force 
of  truth,  and  a  general  abandonment  of  the  successive  theories 
uhich  were  advanced ;  but  revived  in  the  following  century  by 
Marc  of  Egypt,  and  Priscillian,  bishop  of  Abila,  in  Spain;  they 
extended  through  Spain  and  Gaul,  and  were  not  finally  terminated 
before  the  sixth  century. 

The  Simonians,  or  followers  of  Simon  Magus,  maintained  that 
God,  or  the  Supreme  Being,  in  his  divine  attribute  of  goodness,  is 
opposed  to  evil.  The  existence  of  evil  is  not,  therefore,  attributa- 
ble to  God ;  for  it  is  also  the  antagonist  of  good,  which  is  the  es- 
sence of  the  Deity.  But  matter — having  in  itself  a  principle  which 
the  Great  Artificer  cannot  control,  (so  Plato  had  taught,)  and  evil — 
which  had  existed  in  the  world,  seemed  to  be  so  intimately  connec- 
ted with  the  derangements  of  sensible  objects;  it  is  naturally 
inferred  that  in  it  is  the  principle  of  all  evil.  Matter  is  also  co- 
eternal  with  God,  and  consequently  independent  of  him.  From 
these  two  conflicting  and  active  powers  must  proceed  the  alterna- 
tions of  good  and  evil.  From  them  also  sprang  the  various  orders 
of  Intelligences.  These  Intelligences,  which  the  Gnostics  termed 
Jleons,  were  emanations  from  the  Deity  on  the  one  part,  and  from 
the  evil  principle  in  matter,  on  the  other.  From  the  latter,  the 
corporeal  part  of  man  was  derived;  and  God  endowed  his  body 
with  a  soul  or  spirit  to  combat  against  the  evil  influences  of  his 
material  nature.  The  Creator  of  the  world  is  an  Jleon,  emanating 
from  the  evil  principle;  and  is  called  the  '■'■  Demiourgos  ton  Kos- 
mou^''''  whom  the  Gnostics  contended  was  the  God  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament. To  defeat  his  works,  the  Supreme  Being  sent  the  Aeon^ 
Christ,  into  the  world ;  and  the  principal  object  of  his  mission  was, 
to  rescue  man  from  the  tyranny  of  the  Demiourgos.  The  Simoni- 
ans also  maintained  that  Christ,  having  descended  from  the  Plcroma 
or  world  of  spirits ;  was,  whilst  on  earth  a  mere  phantom.  They 
denied  the  doctrine  of  a  general  resurrection.  Christ,  and  Logos, 
who  was  the  Demiourgos  or  Creator  of  the  world,  were  distinct 
and  antagonist  Jleons. 

The  Docetae  or  Docetes,  were  the  founders  of  what  has  been 
termed  the  fantastic  system  by  Gibbon ;  they  are  also  known  as 
the  Phantasiaslm.  They  believed  that  Christ  appeared  in  the  form 
of  manhood,  ami  therefore  denied  the  conception  of  Mary ;  his 
birth,  and  progressive  grow^i,  from  infancy  to  maturity.  They 
supposed  that  his  appearance  was  but  a  phantasm,  tiie  image  only, 
and  not  the  substance  of  a  human  figure.  This  idea  was  advanced 
whilst  he  yet  hang  upon  the  cross;  as  expressed  by  Jerome, — 
"  JlposloUs  udliuc  in  saicido  superstilibus,  apud  Judaeam  Chrisli  san- 
guine recenle,  Phanlasma  domini  corpus  asscrcbatur.''''  To  this  de- 
ceptive appearance  of  his  personality,  they  attributed  the  facility 


52  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  ccntury. 

of  his  escape  from  his  enemies,  when  in  the  Temple  "they  took  up 
stones  to  cast  at  him  ;  but  he  going  through  the  midst  of  them  pass- 
ed by." 

Cerinthus,  a  Jew,  instructed  in  the  school  of  Alexandria,  prop- 
agated his  doctrines  in  Asia,  and  was  one  of  the  most  subtle  and 
learned  sophists  of  the  age.  It  was  to  expose  his  errors  that  the 
Gospel  of  John  was  supposed  to  have  been  written.  He  was 
styled  "  the  Enemy  of  the  Truth."  His  system  was  simple,  but 
ingeniously  constructed  ;  and  acquired  a  populaiily  from  the  gener- 
al opinion,  that  it  reconciled,  with  clearness  and  agreeably  to  the 
philosophical  principles  of  the  era,  the  hypostatical  union  of  the 
human  and  divine  natures  of  Jesus  Christ. 

He  maintained  that  the  former  was  developed  in  the  person  of 
the  Savior,  and  that  his  body  was  the  habitation  of  the  ^eo7i,  Christ, 
who  was  sent  down  from  the  Pleroma  ,by  the  Supreme  Being,  to 
deliver  man  from  the  contaminating  influences  of  the  evil  principle  ; 
and  this  emanation  from  the  To  Jlgathon  had  a  divine  character. — 
He  thus  admitted  the  human  nature  of  Jesus,  and  the  divine  nature 
of  Christ,  When  as  the  Messiah  or  Mediator,  he  was  delivered 
over  to  be  crucified,  Christ  who  was  immortal  and  impassible,  for- 
sook the  body  of  Jesus,  and  returned  to  the  World  of  Spirits.  Je- 
sus as  a  man,  suffered  the  tortures  and  pains  of  crucifixion.  Hence 
his  exclamation  on  the  cross,  "  My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  thou 
forsaken  me?"  He  admitted  that  Christ  was  the  Mediator,  but  not 
the  Logos  or  Creator.  He  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  who 
taught  the  doctrine  of  the  Millenium ;  and  that  Christ,  in  his  divine 
character,  would  return  to  Palestine;  be  re-united  to  the  body  of 
Jesus,  which  had  not  yet  risen ;  would  reign  a  thousand  years  with 
his  people,  and  that  his  peaceful  and  happy  reign  on  earth  would 
be  succeeded  by  their  translation  to  heaven,  where  they  would  en- 
joy everlasting  happiness.  Such  was  the  ingenious  and  enchanting 
system  drawn  up  by  Cerinthus.  A  system  which  was  embraced 
by  those  who  could  not  by  any  process  of  reasoning,  comprehend 
the  mysterious  union  of  a  human  and  divine  nature;  and  by  those 
who  were  fascinated  by  the  enchanting  picture  of  a  thousand  years 
of  peace  and  happiness  on  earth,  and  an  eternal  enjoyment  of  ce- 
lestial felicity. 

The  coincidence  between  the  fourteen  verses  in  the  beginning  of 
the  Gospel  by  John,  and  the  dialogues  of  the  Athenian  philosopher, 
was  hailed  by  the  Gnostics  as  a  confirmation  of  the  truth  of  their 
doctrine  of  the  Logos,  or  second  i(|)erson  in  the  Triad  of  Plato. 
John  affirms  that  "the  Word  was  with  God  and  the  Word  was 
God.  All  things  were  made  by  him.  He  was  in  the  world,  and 
the  world  was  made  by  him.  We  beheld  his  glory,  the  glory  as 
of  the  only  begotten  of  tlie  Father." 

The  origin  of  the  term  Logos  or  the  Word,  and  from  what  source 
the  apostle  derived  it,  have  been  questions  in  controversy  from  the 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  53 

publication  of  that  Gospel  to  the  present  time.  Could  Plato  have 
drawn  his  distinctions  in  the  Godhead  from  the  sacred  records  of 
the  Jewish  people.'  That  they  are  clearly  delineated  in  the  wri- 
tings of  Moses  and  the  prophets  has  been  admitted  ;  and  that  Plato 
was  deeply  instructed  in  the  learning  of  the  age  in  which  he  lived, 
his  writings  demonstrably  prove.  Cicero  affirms — "  Plato  Egyptum 
peragravit  ut  a  Succrdotibiis  Barbaris  numeros  cl  cceleslia  acciperet.''^ 
Josephus  in  his  second  book  against  Apion,  speaks  of  the  Jewish 
nation,  having  been  thoroughly  known  among  all  men,  and  of  their 
laws  being  known  to  tiie  Greeks.  And  more  modern  writers  liave 
asserted,  that  he  derived  a  part  of  his  knowledge  from  the  Jews ; 
from  what  Josephus  has  elsewhere  written  on  the  subject,  and  from 
the  strong  internal  evidence  w^hich  his  Dialogues  exhibit  of  the 
fact. 

It  is  improbable,  however,  that  the  apostle,  who  was  not  conver- 
sant with  Grecian  literature,  and  less  instructed  in  the  mysterious 
jargon  of  the  oriental  philosophy,  than  in  the  writings  of  his  own 
nation,  would  have  drawn  his  doctrines  from  tlie  academies,  and 
not  from  that  source  which  he  must  have  believed  authoritative  as 
the  Word  of  God.  Upon  this  subject,  scepticism  and  infidelity 
might  hesitate,  reason,  and  be  at  length  involved  in  the  labyrinth  of 
error.  There  can  be  but  one  safe,  rational,  and  unerring  conclu- 
sion ;  that,  as  an  inspired  writer,  John  must  have  drawn  his  doc- 
trines from  the  fountain  of  light  and  truth;  from  the  ancient  Scrip- 
tures which  testified  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

It  is  not  properly  within  the  compass  of  this  historical  sketch  to 
refer  to  the  passages  in  tiie  Scripture  of  the  Old  Testament,  which 
represent  the  Messiah  as  the  Lord  Jehovah.  His  visible  appear- 
ance to  the  patriarchs;  the  manifestations  of  His  glorious  presence 
in  the  wilderness;  the  frequent  allusions  to  Him  as  the  "  Angel  of 
the  Lord,"  the  "  Messenger  of  the  covenant,"  &,c.  invested  with 
the  attributes  of  Deity;  the  language  of  the  prophets;  and  indeed, 
the  general  tenor  of  the  inspired  writings,  all  harmonize  in  proving, 
without  the  shadow  of  a  doubt,  that  the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament is  Jesus  Christ  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  New. 

The  character  of  Jehovah  is  clearly  exhibited  to  us  as  identical 
with  the  second  person  in  the  Godhead,  the  Creator  of  the  world. 
Plato,  and  some  of  his  disciples,  not  clearly  comprehending  this 
mystery  in  the  Divine  Revelation,  have  represented  in  obscure  and 
unintelligible  language,  this  distinct  person  as  an  emanation  of  the 
Supreme  Being,  the  J\''ous  or  'Logos  of  the  Deity,  the  Demimirgos 
ton  Kosmou,  or  Creator  of  the  world.  Others  of  the  sect  of  the 
Gnostics,  maintained  that  the  Jehovah  of  the  Scriptures,  although 
the  Creator,  the  Word,  and  the  Law-giver  of  the  Jewish  nation, 
was  yet  an  emanation  from  what  they  called  the  evil  principle. — 
The  disciples  of  the  Platonic  school  agree  in  the  distinctive  title  oi 
the  Logos,  and  that  he  was  the  Creator ;  and  the  opening  chapter 


54  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  ccntury. 

of  John's  Gospel  has  established  this  doctrine  as  one  of  divine 
truth.  The  term  Logos  therefore,  as  thus  applied,  conveys  the  idea 
of  distinct  personality,  and  not  simply 'of  an  expression  by  which 
the  intentions  or  thoughts  of  the  speaker  are  communicated. 

That  this  construction  of  the  term  is  fully  in  accordance  Avith 
the  language  of  the  Old  Testament,  is  clearly  expressed  in  the  15th 
chapter  of  Genesis,  where  it  is  written,  "  The  word  of  the  Lord 
said,  Fear  not,  Abram :  I  am  thy  shield,  and  thy  exceeding  great  re- 
ward ;"  in  the  18th  chapter  of  the  Psalms,  wherein  it  is  said,  "  The 
word  of  the  Lord  is  a  buckler  to  all  that  trust  in  him  ■,"  and  through- 
out the  sacred  writings.  It  is  also  sustained  by  the  Chaldaic  para- 
phrases of  the  Books  of  the  Law  and  the  Prophets,  known  as  the 
Targums.  These  were  intended  to  convey  to  the  Jews  a  know- 
ledge of  the  Scriptures;  and  were  faithful  translations  from  the 
original  Hebrew,  which  those  of  the  Babylonish  captivity  had  for- 
gotten.    They  were  also  expository  of  the  original  text. 

In  these  versions  frequent  allusions  are  made  to  the  second  per- 
son in  the  Godhead,  as  the  Creator,  the  Redeemer,  the  Mediator, 
the  Only-begotten.  "  Wherever  Jehovah  is  represented  in  the  Old 
Testament  as  holding  any  intercourse  with  men,  the  Targums  ex- 
press the  term  by  the  circumlocution  of  the  phrase,  '  The  Word 
of  Jehovah.'  "  The  Word,  or  the  Memra  of  the  Paraphrasts,  and 
the  Logos  of  the  Greek,  is  applied  throughout  to  the  several  char- 
acters imputed  to  the  second  person  in  the  Godhead.  Herein  the 
Gnostics  differed  from  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament;  from 
the  Paraphrases,  and  from  the  Gospel  of  John.  The  apostle  there- 
fore, must  have  used  the  term  not  in  a  philosophical  sense,  but  as  it 
was  clearly  understood  in  the  sacred  writings  with  which  he  must 
have  been  intimately  acquainted.  He  wrote  by  the  inspiration  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  and  not  by  the  wisdom  of  a  vain  and  mystical 
philosophy. 

The  Gospel  of  John  was  not  a  transcript  of  the  Platonic  system ; 
but  of  the  theology  of  the  Jewish  people,  as  communicated  by  God, 
through  his  inspired  servants.  The  Logos  of  the  New  Testament 
is  the  Dahar  Jehovah  of  the  Old  ;  whom  John  affirms  to  be,  not  only 
the  Creator,  but  the  only  begotten  of  the  Father;  the  light  which 
lighteth  every  man  that  cometh  into  the  world,  Jesus  Christ,  the 
Messiah  and  Redeemer.  The  inspired  writer  concludes  in  these 
words :  "  These  are  written  that  ye  might  believe  that  Jesus  is 
the  Christ,  the  Son  of  God."  In  his  first  epistle,  he  declares  that 
to  be  the  spirit  of  anti-Christ  which  denies  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
come  in  the  flesh. 

Paul,  in  his  Epistles,  frequently  alludes  to  the  doctrines  of  the 
Gnostics  in  the  expresssive  phrases  of,  fables;  endless  genealogies; 
foolish  questions;  philosophy  and  vain  deceit;  after  the  tradition  of 
men;  after  the  rudiments  of  the  world,  and  not  after  Christ.  He 
affirms  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  as  the  foundation  of  the  Chris- 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  65 

tian's  hope,  and  that  Christ  had  risen  and  had  become  the  Hrst 
fruits  of  them  that  slept. 

Having  given  a  sketch  of  the  heretical  doctrines  which  disturb- 
ed the  harmony  of  the  Cliurch  in  the  lime  of  the  apostles,  it  will 
be  proper  to  resume  the  narration  of  the  events  comiected  with  its 
history  and  government,  to  the  conclusion  of  the  first  century. 

The  history  of  the  Christian  Church,  except  so  much  ot  it  as 
may  be  drawn  from  the  Apocalypse,  terminates  in  the  Scriptures 
of  the  New  Testament  about  the  year  67.  There  is  no  positive 
statement  in  those  sacred  records  of  the  organization  of  a  church 
in  Rome.  That  there  were  Christian  associations  in  that  city  at 
the  time  when  Paul  wrote  his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  or  A.  D.  58 ; 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  but  we  have  no  data  by  which  we  may,  with 
safety,  conclude  that  these  societies  had  received  spiritual  aid  and 
instruction  from  the  apostles.  We  are  not  informed  of  Evangelists 
having  been  sent  to  them,  "  to  set  in  order  the  things  that  are  want- 
ing, and  to  ordain  Elders."  That  Paul  was  there  martyred  in  66 
or  67,  may  be  supposed  probable  from  the  tenor  of  his  second 
Epistle  to  Timothy.  The  circumstances  which  establish  the  pro- 
bability of  this  event,  give  to  the  subsequent  assumption  that  he 
was,  a  degree  of  credibility  which  should  preclude  a  contradiction. 
It  cannot,  liowever,  be  inserted  in  sober  history  as  an  unquestiona- 
ble fact.  The  names  mentioned  in  Paul's  second  Epistle  to  Timo- 
thy, who,  with  the  brethren^  sent  their  salutations  to  that  Evange- 
list, are  Roman  or  Gentile  names.  This  authorizes  the  belief  that 
the  apostle  had  organized  Gentile  Churches,  although  there  is  no 
direct  statement  of  his  having  done  so. 

How  far  Peter  participated  in  the  propagation  of  the  Gospel  in 
the  western  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire,  history  has  given  us 
no  authentic  information.  That  he  was  ever  in  the  Capital  has 
been  denied  by  Scaliger,  Salmasius,  Spanheim,  and  otiier  writers 
of  high  distinction  for  their  erudition  and  literary  labors.  On  this 
point  the  sacred  records  are  profoundly  silent.  All  the  evidence 
transmitted  to  us  on  this  subject  has  no  higher  credibility  attached 
to  it  than  the  assertion  of  the  early  fathers  of  the  Church  ;  and  it 
will  be  seen  in  the  sequel,  that  their  statements  are  generally  of  a 
character  not  implicitly  to  be  relied  upon. 

These  remarks  very  properly  precede  an  inquiry  into  the  first 
organization  of  the  Christian  Cliurch  in  Rome.  A  writer  of  deep 
historical  research,  who  was  Chaplain  in  ordinary  to  diaries  II., 
and  whose  episcopal  prejudices  are  well  known,  has  shown  that, 
"the  account  which  Bellanninc  and  Baronius  have  given  of  Peter's 
being  in  Rome  is  irreconcilable  with  the  History  of  the  Apostles' acts 
recorded  by  Luke."  "What  foundation,"  he  remarks,  "the  story 
of  Peter's  being  five  and  twenty  years  IJishop  of  Rome  has  in  an- 
tiquity, I  find  not."  Those  writers  were  cardinals  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  were  bitter  enemies  of  Protestantism,  as  they  were 


56  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  ccntury. 

also  bigoted  papists.     "  The  errors  which  they  committed  are  not 
imputable,"  says  Dr.  Cave,  to  whose  writings  I  have  referred,  "so 
much  to  their  want  of  seeing  them,  as  to  the  unhappy  necessity  of 
defending  those  unsound  prniciples  which  they  had  undertaken  to 
maintain."     He  then  directly  charges  Jerome,  who  flourished  in 
the  fourth  century,  with  the  fraudulent  act  of  inserting  in  his  trans- 
lation of  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Eusebius,  a  statement  which 
is  not  in  the  original,  "  that  Peter  continued  five  and  twenty  years 
Bishop  of  Rome."     "  Nor  indeed,"  continues  Dr.  Cave,  "  does 
Eusebius  any  where  positively  afiirm  Peter  to  have  been  Bishop  of 
Rome,  but  only  that  he  preached  the  Gospel  there."     But  admit- 
ting that  Paul  organized  a  Gentile,  and  Peter  a  Jewish  Christian 
Cliurch  in  Rome,  were  they  diocesan  bishops  of  their  respective 
churches,  as  papists  have  affirmed.''  and  who  were  their  successors? 
Two  dioceses  extending  over  the  same  territory,  and  each  at  the 
same  time  under  its  respective  bishop,  presents  an  anomaly  in  ec- 
clesiastical history.     But  it  has  been  sufficiently  shown  that  no  of- 
fice of  that  distinction  existed  in  the  Christian  Church  at  that  early 
period,  and  modern  writers  have  been  referred  to,  who  have  con- 
ceded this.     In  further  confirmation  of  the  correctness  of  this  state- 
ment, the  fathers  themselves  have  admitted  it.     Jerome  says,  that, 
"  A  presbyter  is  the  same  as  a  bishop,  and  originally,  the  churches 
were  governed  by  the  joint  council  of  the  presbyters,"  also,  "  Let 
bishops  know  that  they  are  greater  than  presbyters,  rather  by  cus- 
tom than  by  the  real  appointment  of  the  Lord,"  and,  "  Among  the 
ancients,  presbyters  and  bishops  were  the  same."     Tertullian,  a 
"writer  of  profound  learning,  in  the  second  century,  states,  that 
"  Certain  approved  elders,  (presbyters)  preside  over  the  ordinances 
of  public  worship,  and  the  government  of  the  Church."     Firmil- 
ian,  Bishop  of  Caesarea,  says,  that  "In  elders  is  vested   the  power 
of  baptizing,  imj)Osition  of  hands,  and  ordination."     Hilary,  Bish- 
op of  Poictiers,  in  the   fourth  century,  asserts,  that  "  The  presby- 
ters were  at  first  called  bishops."     Theodoret,  Bishop  of  Cyprus, 
in  the  fifth  century,  makes  the  same  declaration.     In  conclusion,  it 
may  be  staled,  that  Dr.  Mosheim,  as  well  versed   in  ecclesiastical 
history  as  the  writer  of  any  age  or  nation,  has  stated,  that  "In  the 
first  century  the  rulers  of  the  Church  were  called  either  presbyters 
or  bishops,  which  two  titles  are  in  the  New  Testament  undoubtedly 
applied  to  the  same  order  of  men."     Paul  and  Peter  then,  admit- 
ting that  they  organized  churches  in  the  city  of  Rome,  which  is 
still  a  matter  of  controversy,  exercised  no  other  or  higher  jurisdic- 
tion than  that  which  appertained  to  them  as  Episcopal  presbyters. 
Who  were  their  successors.'' 

On  this  question  we  are  involved  in  a  labyrinth  of  difficulties, 
which  the  learning,  the  indefatigable  researches,  and  subtle  contri- 
vances of  the  popish  writers,  have  not  succeeded  in  unraveling. 
"  The  writers  of  the  Roman  church,"  says  Dr.  Cave,  "  how  great 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  57 

word  soever  they  speak  of  the  constant  and  uninterrupted  succes- 
sion of  St.  Peter's  chair,  arc  yet  involved  in  an  inextricable  laby- 
rinth about  the  succession  of  the  four  first  bishops  of  that  See ; 
scarce  two  of  tiiem  of  any  note  bringing  in  the  same  account."  To 
substantiate  this  it  may  be  stated,  that  Irenajus,  bishop  of  Lyons, 
in  the  second  century,  enumerates  the  first  successors  in  the  follow- 
ing order — "-Linus,  made  bishop  by  Paul  and  Peter;  he  was  suc- 
ceeded by  Anacletus;  whose  successor  was  Clement."  Tertulliaa 
places  Clement  the  first  in  the  order  after  the  apostles.  The  com- 
piler of  tlie  apostolic  constitutions,  a  work  which  first  appeared  in 
the  fourth  century,  says  :  "  Linus  was  ordained  bishop  of  Rome  by 
St.  Paul,  and  Clement  by  St.  Peter."  Each  being,  at  the  same 
time,  the  bishop ;  one  of  the  Gentile,  and  the  other  of  the  Jewish 
church.' 

From  A.  D.  66,  the  history  of  the  Church  is  hut  a  chronicle  of 
supposititious  events ;  a  compilation  of  legends,  the  productions  of 
the  monasteries,  and  of  the  superstitious  fancies  of  the  clergy.  The 
few  who  wrote  with  any  claims  to  distinction  for  genius  or  learning, 
confined  their  literary  labors  to  a  vindication  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion, against  the  attacks  of  the  pagans.  Eusebius,  who  compiled 
his  ecclesiastical  history  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century, 
complains  of  the  scantiness  of  materials  for  executing  a  work  which 
was  demanded  by  the  increasing  influence  of  the  Church.  About 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  had  transpired  from  the  date  of  the 
martyrdoms  of  Peter  and  Paul  to  the  first  efforts  to  reduce  to  a  sys- 
tematic form,  from  credible  authorities,  the  series  of  events  con- 
nected with  the  progress  of  the  Church.  Within  a  period  of  such 
an  extent,  and  in  an  age  of  ignorance  and  religious  superstition, 
with  the  evidences  we  have  of  the  little  interest  in  preserving  the 
memorials  of  the  times;  we  cannot  expect  to  find  records  of  an  un- 
questionable character,  from  which  an  authentic  history  might  be 
compiled.  The  Christians  formed  a  distinct  commun)ty  within 
themselves,  until  the  conversion  of  Constantine ;  and  the  annals  of 

'  "Eusebius  declares  that  Linus  was  the  first  bishop  of  Rome  after  the  martyrdom 
of  Paul  and  Peter.  Again,  that  Peter  was  the  first  bishop  of  Antioch.  Again,  that 
Erodius  was  the  first  bishop  of  Antioch.  Damascus,  bishop  of  Rome,  asserts  that 
Peter  came  to  Rome  in  tlie  beginning  of  Nero's  reign  ;  and  sat  there  twenty-five 
years.  Nero  reigned  from  A.  D.  54  to  68.  This  places  the  period  of  his  martyrdom 
in  the  first  year  of  the  reign  of  Titus,  or  A.  D.  19  ;  ten  years  after  the  destruction 
of  Jerusalem.  If  Peter  came  to  Rome  in  tl)e  year  54,  and  he  was  martyred  in  the 
last  year  of  Nero's  reign,  as  otiier  writers  have  affirmed,  be  could  not  have  been 
bishop  of  Rome  longer  than  fourteen  years. 

Origen  says,  that  he  had  read  in  the  works  of  a  martyr,  that  Ignatius  was  the 
second  bishop  of  Antioch  after  Peter.  Jerome  declares,  on  the  other  hand,  that  Ig- 
natius was  the  third  bishop  of  Antioch  after  Peter. 

These  instances  prove  that  the  fathers,  however  sincere,  and  however  satisfactory 
their  testimony  concnrning  facts  which  passed  under  their  own  eyes ;  yet  received 
traditionary  accounts  loosely  ;  and  both  believed  and  recorded  much  of  what  took  place 
before  their  time,  without  truth  or  evidence."     Dwight's  Theology,  vol.  4,  p.  240. 


58  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  ccntury. 

the  empire,  previous  to  that  event,  reflect  no  light  upon  tlie  internal 
affairs  of  the  church. 

There  are,  however,  other  reasons  for  questioning  the  truth  of 
the  statements,  doubtless  they  are  under  this  view,  which  the 
authorities  of  the  papal  church  have  submitted  to  the  credulity  of 
the  world.  Few  of  the  writings  of  the  ecclesiastics  of  the  tirst 
three  centuries  have  been  preserved ;  and  Eusebius  has  recorded 
their  names  and  the  titles  of  their  works,  which  was  all  that  re- 
mained of  them  when  he  compiled  his  history.  The  Apologies  of 
Justin,  the  martyr ;  the  five  Books  of  Irenaius,  against  the  Heresies 
in  the  second  century ;  the  Miscellanies,  and  Pedagogue  of  Clement 
of  the  Alexandrine  school;  the  Refutation  of  Hermogenes,  a  Gnos- 
tic, by  Tertullian ;  the  treatise  of  Cyprian,  bishop  of  Carthage,  on 
the  Vanity  of  Idols;  who,  although  himself  an  aspiring  prelate, 
treated  with  contempt  the  claims  of  Stephen,  bishop  of  Rome,  to  a 
supremacy  over  the  Christian  Church;  the  seven  Books  of  Arno- 
bius  against  the  Gentiles;  the  Dialogue  of  Minurius  Felix,  under 
the  title  of  Octavius,  in  reply  to  the  reproaches  of  the  pagans 
against  the  Christians;  and  fragments  of  the  writings  of  Origen, 
the  disciple  of  Ammonius  and  of  Clement,  and  the  compiler  of  the 
justly  celebrated  Hexapla' — these  comprise  nearly  all  of  the  writ- 
ings extant  of  that  period, which  have  obtained  a  reputation  as  the 
productions  of  genius  and  learning;  but  they  are  not  of  an  histori- 
cal character. 

Many  of  the  writings  which  have  been  attributed  to  the  fathers 
of  that  age  are  now  acknowledged  by  the  papists  themselves  as 
forgeries  of  a  later  period,  and  are  unworthy  of  credit.  Such  as — 
the  "  Apostolical  Constitutions,"  supposed  to  have  been  compiled 
by  Clement,  one  of  the  immediate  successors  to  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter,  but  rejected  as  a  spurious  production  of  the  fourth  century ; 
the  "  Apostles'  Creed,"  wliich,  although  received  as  containing  the 
doctrines  of  faith  by  Episcopal  churches,  have  been  correctly  pro- 
nounced to  be  the  work  of  a  much  later  date,  and  probably  of  the 
third  century ;  the  Gospels  of  St.  Peter,  of  Barnabas,  and  others, 
condemned  by  Jerome  as  forgeries.  These  examples  might  be 
multiplied. 

But  a  more  serious  evil  perhaps  than  these,  arose  from  the  falsi- 
fications and  corruptions  of  the  acknowledged  writings  of  the  early 
fathers,  by  those  who,  not  correctly  understanding  the  originals  in- 
troduced in  their  manuscript  copies  erroneous  transcripts;  and  from 
this  cause,  and  often  from  intentional  misconstructions,  vitiated  pro- 
ductions were  circulated,  which  in  tlie  course  of  time  were  received 
as  correct  representations  of  the  original  work.  It  is  well  known, 
that  at  a  much  later  period  than  that  to  which  we  have  immediate 
reference,  forgeries  and  supposititious  authorities,  Were  appealed  to 

'Daille  on  tlie  Fathers. 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  59 

by  the  prelates  of  the  Romish  churcli  to  substantiate  their  claims 
to  spiritual  sovereignty.  That  such  false  pretenses  were  more  fre- 
quently and  more  boldly  resorted  to  in  an  age  of  ignorance  and 
credulity,  we  may  readily  believe,  without  the  positive  evidences  of 
the  fact  on  record.  What  confidence  can  be  placed  in  the  writings 
transmitted  to  us  as  the  productions  of  the  first  centuries  of  the 
Church,  when  Jerome,  who  flourished  in  the  beginning  of  the  fifth 
century,  distinguished  in  the  world  for  the  depth  of  his  learning, 
and  sainted  in  the  Church  for  the  imputed  piety  of  his  character, 
confesses  that  in  his  translation  of  Origen,  "  He  had  cut  away  that 
which  was  dangerous,  and  had  left  only  that  which  was  useful;" 
and  that,  in  the  Latin  version  of  Eusebius  from  the  original  Greek, 
"  he  omitted  what  he  conceived  was  not  worth  remembering,  and 
that  he  had  in  truth  altered  the  greater  part  of  his  work."  In  the 
treatise  of  Augustine,  "  De  civitate  dei,"  an  interpolation  has  been 
introduced,  expressing  his  belief  in  the  fabulous  existence  of  pur- 
gatory ;  which  opinion  is  not  expressed  in  the  ancient  and  authentic 
copies  of  the  work.^  His  ideas  on  that  subject  were  indefinite  and 
obscure;  and  it  is  well  known,  that,  the  doctrine  of  purgatory  was 
not  a  settled  article  of  faith  in  the  popish  church  before  the  ponti- 
ficate of  Gregory  the  Great;  about  the  close  of  the  sixth  century. 
This  spurious  and  fraudulent  insertion  of  a  sentence  was  made  to 
attach  an  antiquity  to  the  doctrine  which  did  not  appertain  to  it. 

In  conclusion,  it  may  be  remarked,  that  the  chronicles  of  the  Ro- 
mish church  have  been  corrupted  by  forgeries,  mistranslations,  and 
perversions  of  original  texts,  from  the  first  century  to  the  present 
day ;  and  it  is  unsafe  to  attach  to  its  authorities  any  degree  of  credit 
without  an  evidence  of  facts  derived  from  other  sources.  The  un- 
interrupted line  of  succession  on  which  that  church  has  founded  its 
pretensions  to  exclusive  spiritual  prerogatives,  is  not  only  fanciful  and 
supposititious,  but  absolutely  false;  and  has  never  been  established 
by  a  clear  and  unquestionable  exhibition  of  facts.  It  is  evident, 
from  what  has  been  already  said,  that  the  first  links  of  this  chain 
were  disconnected;  and  that  the  difficulty  of  tracing  back  its  com- 
mencement from  the  apostles  has  never  been  removed.  This  dif- 
ficulty accompanies  the  effort  throughout  the  subsequent  periods  of 
its  history ;  and,  as  will  ap})ear,  the  frequent  convulsions  which 
broke  up  the  order  of  the  succession,  and  produced  an  entire  dis- 
ruption of  its  ecclesiastical  union,  would  prove  the  fallacy  of  the 
claim  at  the  present  day,  however  closely  connected  with  the  apos- 
tles the  primitive  bishops  might  have  been. 

The  advocates  of  the  divine  right  of  prelacy,  compelled  by  the 
plain  language  of  the  Scriptures  to  abandon  the  distinction  between 
presbyters  and  bishops,  which  they  contended  was  established  in 
the  Church  in  the  life  time  of  the  apostles,  now  found  their  claim  to 

'Daille  on  the  Fathers. 


€0  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  century. 

supremacy  altogether  upon  the  principle  of  a  direct  and  uninter- 
rupted succession  fronri  the  apostles;  and  exclude  from  ecclesiasti- 
cal privileges,  those  denominations  of  Christians  who  pretend  not 
to  trace  their  order  of  ministers  through  that  line.  This  ground, 
however,  has  been  sustained  without  the  plausibility  of  reason  or 
of  fact.  This,  it  has  been  shown,  the  prelatical  bishops  themselves, 
have  been  unable  to  accomplish  with  any  concession  but  their  own, 
to  the  justness  or  the  validity  of  their  claim. 

The  only  instance  in  the  sacred  records  of  a  succession  in  the 
apostleship  was  the  election  of  Matthias,  in  the  place  of  Judas  who 
by  transgression  had  fallen.  This  was  tlie  act  of  the  Church,  or 
of  the  apostles  and  brethren.  He  was  ordained,  (without  the  im- 
position of  hands,)  that  he  might  be  a  witness  with  the  eleven  of 
the  resurrection  of  Christ.  The  divine  authority,  for  selecting 
"  one  who  had  companied  with  them  all  the  time  that  the  Lord  Je- 
sus went  in  and  out  among  them,  beginning  from  the  baptism  of 
John  unto  that  same  day  that  he  was  taken  up  from  them,"  was  ex- 
pressly derived  from  Holy  Writ.  "  For  it  is  written,"  said  Peter, 
"  in  the  Book  of  Psalms,  his  bishopric  (or  charge,)  let  another  take." 
It  is  evident,  from  the  precaution  exercised  in  stating  minutely  the 
divine  authority  for  electing  a  successor,  and  the  qualifications  re- 
quired for  taking  part  in  the  ministry  and  the  apostleship,  that  no 
subsequent  succession  was  intended ;  and  that  this  was  the  fulfilment 
of  what  the  Holy  Ghost  by  the  mouth  of  David  had  spoken.  To 
speak  of  an  "  apostolic  succession"  subsequent  to  this,  would  be  to 
contradict  the  plain  language  of  the  Scriptures. 

The  apostles  were  a  superior  order  of  ministers.  Upon  them 
and  the  prophets,  we  are  informed  by  Holy  Writ,  the  Church  of 
Christ  was  built.  He  being  the  chief  corner  stone.  With  the  death 
of  the  apostles  that  order  expired.  They  laid  the  foundation  and 
others  built  upon  it;  and  "  Let  every  man,"  says  Paul,  "  take  heed 
how^  he  buildeth  thereon." 

Peculiar  powers  were  imparted  to  them,  which  were  no  doubt 
intended  as  public  manifestations  of  their  divine  commission.  They 
were  inspired,  and  therefore  spoke  and  wrote  as  the  Holy  Ghost 
dictated.  They  were  told,  tliat  "  Whatsoever  they  shall  bind  on 
earth  sliall  be  bound  in  heaven:  and  whatsoever  they  shall  loose  on 
earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven."  They  were  empowered  to  per- 
form miracles.  These  were  the  gifts  of  God ;  and  were  therefore 
not  transmissible  to  others.  No  one  could  assume  to  exercise  these 
powers,  but  "he  who  opposeth  and  exalteth  himself  above  all 
that  is  called  God :  so  that  he  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  Temple  of 
God,  showing  himself  that  he  is  God." 

But  there  were  also  duties  imposed  upon  them,  "Go  ye,  and 
teach  all  nations,  baptizing  them  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of 
the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost;  teaching  them  to  observe  all 
things  whatsoever  I  have  commanded  you :  and  lo,  I  am  with  you 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  G1 

ahvay,  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world."  This  injunction  applies 
to  all  the  faithful  ministers  of  the  gospel,  to  the  end  of  time.  In 
the  discharge  of  these  duties  then,  the  apostles  were  authorized  to 
extend  this  commission  to  others ;  who  might  exercise  a-U  the  privi- 
leges properly  connected  with,  or  arising  out  of,  ihe  necessary  dis- 
charge of  those  duties.  And  this,  we  are  informed  by  the  Scrip- 
tures, they  did.  Preaching  and  baptizing,  administering  the  sacred 
ordinances,  installing  others  into  the  ministerial  office  by  the  rite  of 
ordination,  attending  to  the  discipline,  and  exercising  a  supervision 
or  oversight  of  the  Church,  comprise  a  summary  of  ministerial  du- 
ties which  devolved  upon  the  presbyters  or  elders,  as  well  as,  upon 
the  apostles.  Preaching  was  undoubtedly  the  paramount  duty ;  and 
was  so  considered,  Paul  emphatically  remarks,  "Necessity  is 
laid  upon  me;  yea,  wo  is  unto  me,  if  I  preach  not  the  gospel." 
"  Christ  sent  me  not  to  baptize,  but  to  preach  the  gospel,"  The 
institution  of  the  order  of  deacons,  who  administered  in  the  tem- 
poral affairs  of  the  Church,  was  proposed  by  the  apostles,  "  That 
they  might  give  themselves  continually  to  prayer,  and  to  the  minis- 
try of  the  word,"  "With  the  modern  prelatical  bishops  of  the  pa- 
pal church,  who  give  themselves  up  entirely  to  the  acquisition  of 
wealth  and  the  exercise  of  power,  this  has  become  a  subordinate  duty. 
When  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  by  comparison  with  the  super- 
visory charge  intrusted  to  the  ministry,  (and  this  is  now  assumed 
to  be  exclusively  appurtenant  to  the  episcopal  office,)  it  is  said  that  the 
elders  who  rule  well  are  worthy  of  double  honor,  but  especially  those 
who  labor  in  the  word  and  doctrine,  Paul,  in  his  address  to  the 
elders  of  the  church  in  Ephesus,  particularly  enjoins  upon  them  the 
duty  of  feeding  the  Church  of  God  over  which  the  Holy  Ghost 
had  made  them  overseers,  episcopoics,  or  bishops.  From  the  whole 
tenor  of  the  sacred  writings  then,  we  are  for-ced  to  the  conclusion, 
that  the  ordained  ministers  of  Jesus  Christ  administered  the  estab- 
lished ordinances  of  the  Chur'ch,  exercised  discipline  and  organized 
chr-istian  associations  or  churches,  as  mere  subsidiary  acts  in  their 
fulfilment  of  the  great  and  paramount  purpose  of  their  commission, 
the  propagation  of  the  divine  truths  of  the  gospel. 

But  it  may  be  her-e  inquired — What  was  the  rite  of  ordination  .!• 
By  whom  was  it  administered  ?  And  what  importance  was  attached 
to  the  ceremony  of  a  formal  installation  into  the  ministerial  office.-* 
in  the  primitive  or  apostolic  church. 

Matthias  was  ordained  an  apostle  by  the  eleven  and  the  brethren 
casting  their  lots.  This  was  an  act  of  the  whole  Chur-ch,  which 
consisted  then  of  about  one  hundred  and  twenty  persons.  This 
mode  of  selection  was  intended  as  a  submission  of  the  choice  to 
God,  As  a  succession  to  the  apostlcship  could  be,  by  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church  only,  this  expression  of  his 
will  determined  the  election ;  and  without  the  ceremony  of  the  im- 
position of  hands,  Matthias  was  numbered  with  the  eleven. 


62  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  centurj. 

Oidination,  as  a  rite  of  installation  into  the  ministerial  office,  is 
only  incidentally  alluded  to  in  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, except  where   Paul  and   Barnabas,  who  was  an  itinerant 
-}       preacher,  are  said  to  have  ordained  them  elders  in  every  church; 
^_  where  Titus  is  directed  by  Paul  to  ordain  elders  in  every  city,  as 
■**  *j^he  liad  appointed  him;  and  where  Paul  writes  of  himself  as  beinj^ 
ordained  (or  in  the  original  placed)  a  preacher  and  an  apostle,  &c. 
Paul  and  Barnabas,  by  the  command  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  were  sep- 
arated for  a  particular  work  to  which  they  were  called,  and  con- 
secrated to  that  service  by  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  certain 
prophets  and  teachers.    Timothy  is  charged  by  Paul,  not  to  neglect 
the  gift  which  was  given  to  him  by  prophecy,  with  the  laying  on 
of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery ;  and  advised,  not  to  lay  hands  sud- 
denly on  any  man. 

From  all  which  we  may  infer,  that  ordination  was  administered 
by  the  imposition  of  hands,  and  this  was  done  by  the  apostles,  in- 
dividually or  collectively ;  i)y  the  prophets  and  teacliers;  by  the 
evangelists,  as  were  Timothy  and  Titus,  under  an  authority  dele- 
gated by  an  apostle  for  that  especial  purpose ;  or,  finally,  by  the 
presbytery  or  an  assembly  of  elders.^ 

Tmiothy  and  Titus  were  evangelists,  who  seemed  to  have  been 
appointed  by  Paul  after  their  ordination,  to  visit  the  churches  and 
to  set  in  order  the  things  that  were  wanting.  They  were  consid- 
ered as  more  immediately  his  disciples;  occasionally  accompanied 
him  in  his  journeys  and  missionary  labors,  and  were  instructed  by 
him ;  all  of  which  are  expressly  stated  in  his  Ei)istles  to  them. 
They  are  no  where  alluded  to  as  the  diocesan  bishops  of  any 
church;-  and  Dr.  Whilby,  who  was  a  zealous  advocate  of  episco- 
pacy, in  its  modern  sense,  declares,  that  he  "  Can  find  nothing  in 
any  writer  of  the  first  three  centuries,  concerning  the  episcopate 
of  Timothy  and  Titus;  nor  any  intimation  that  they  bore  that 
name."  VVitli  respect  to  the  ecclesiastical  power  of  the  presby- 
tery, Jerome  has  stated,  that  "  The  presbyters  of  Alexandria  (one 
of  the  apostolic  churches,)  ordained  their  bishops  for  more  than 
two  hundred  years."  Ignatius,  bishop  of  Antioch,  in  the  close  of 
the  first  century,  writes  of  the  bishops  of  Magnesia,  as  of  many. 
Irenaeus,  of  the  second  century,  says,  "  It  behooves  us  to  barken  to 

'Firmilian  says,  "  In  ciders  is  vested  tlie  power  of  Ijaptizinij,  imposition  of  hands, 
and  ordination."     Dwiiriu. 

°"  It  is  said  that  Timothy  was  l)ishop  of  Epiicsus,  and  Titus  of  Crete ;  and  that,  as 
such,  Paul  directed  tiicm  to  ordain  ciders  or  prcsl)yters,  in  tiiu  oluirches  at  Ephesus 
and  in  Crete.  But  it  cannot  he  proved,  that  Timoth)'  was  bishop  of  ICphesus,  or  Ti- 
tus bisho])  of  Crete,  in  any  sense,  much  loss  in  the  diocesan  sense.  The  Scriptiiro.'s 
say  tliis  in  no  place,  and  in  no  manner  whatever."  Dwight's  Theoloijy,  vol.  4tli, 
pan-e  i242. 

;2  Tim.  iv.  ,'),  "Preach  the  word,  be  instant  in  season,  out  of  season.  Sec,"  "do 
the  work  of  an  evangelist,  make  full  proof  of  thy  ministry,"  "  do  thy  diligence  to 
come  shortly  unto  me."  Such  was  the  language  of  Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  Timothy 
whom  he  addressed  as  an  evansrelist. 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  63 

those  who  are  presbyters  in  the  Churcli ;  who,  as  we  have  shown, 
have  their  succession  from  the  apostles;  who,  together  with  the 
succession  of  the  episcopate,  have  received  the  certain  gifts  of  the 
truth."  To  which  remark,  bishop  Stillingfleet,  of  the  seventeenth 
century  refers,  when  he  says,  "  What  strange  confusion  must  this 
raise  in  any  one's  mind,  who  seeks  for  a  succession  of  episcopal 
power  over  presbyters  from  the  apostles,  by  the  testimony  ot  Ire- 
naeus,  when  he  so  plainly  attributes  both  the  succession  to  the 
presbyters,  and  the  episcopacy  too,  of  which  he  speaks."  If  then, 
as  Irenaeus  states,  the  succession  of  the  ministerial  otfice,  and  with 
it  the  episcopate,  was  transmitted  as  late  as  the  second  century, 
through  the  presbyters  in  the  Church,  the  rite  of  ordination  must 
have  been  administered  throughout  that  time,  by  the  laying  on  of 
the  hands  of  tlie  presbyters;  and  the  change  which  subsequently 
took  place  in  the  administration  of  that  rite  by  investing  the  power 
in  a  diocesan  bishop,  was  a  manifest  deviation  from  the  piactice  and 
usage  of  the  apostolic  church. 

I  will  conclude  the  remarks  on  this  subject  by  a  quotation  from 
the  writings  of  Clement,  who  is  supposed  to  have  been  an  imme- 
diate successor  of  Peter  in  the  Church  of  Rome.  "  The  apostles," 
says  Clement,  "  knowing  by  Jesus  Christ,  that  contentions  would 
arise  about  the  name,  or  on  account  of  the  episcopate,  or  oversight 
of  the  Church,  constituted  bishops  (whom  he  elsewhere  speaks  of 
as  presbyters,  implying  one  and  the  same  office,)  and  deacons," 
Such  was  the  declaration  of  Clement,  expressed  in  the  language  of 
Paul  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Philippians. 

History  has  given  no  certain  data  by  which  we  may  designate 
the  exact  periods  of  the  successive  changes  in  the  primitive  forms 
or  polity  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  republican  features  of  its 
original  constitution  insensibly  yielded  to  those  influences  which 
arose  from  the  spirit  of  the  age.  In  an  era  of  absolute  political 
despotism  and  of  general  ignorance,  a  popular  form  of  government 
could  not  be  maintained  either  in  a  state,  or  in  a  religious  commun- 
ity united  alone  by  ties  of  faith  and  cliarity.  Hence  it  was  that, 
before  the  expiration  of  the  first  century,  we  discover  the  progress 
of  innovations.  "Every  society,"  says  Gibbon,  in  his  sketch  of 
the  primitive  churches,  "  formed  within  itself  a  separate  and  inde- 
pendent republic;  and  although  the  most  distant  of  these  little  states 
mamtained  a  mutual,  as  well  as,  friendly  intercourse  of  letters  and 
deputations,  the  Christian  world  was  not  yet  connected  by  any  su- 
preme authority  or  legislative  assembly.  Such  was  the  mild  and 
equal  constitution  by  which  the  Christians  were  governed  more 
than  an  hundred  years  after  the  death  of  the  apostles." 

Before  the  close  of  the  first  century,  or  at  the  date  of  the  Apo- 
calypse which  is  su|)posed  to  have  been  written  by  John  in  the 
year  96,  the  title  of  "  Angel  of  the  Church"  seems  to  point  out  a 
distinction  of  rank   in   the  ministerial   office,  as   then  introduced. 


64  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Ist  ccntury. 

"  Bishops,  under  the  name  of  angels,  were  already  instituted,"  says 
Gibbon,  "  in  seven  cities  of  Asia.  And  yet  the  Epistle  of  Clem- 
ent (which  is  probably  of  as  ancient  a  date  as  the  Apocalypse,) 
does  not  lead  us  to  discover  any  traces  of  episcopacy  either  at  Cor- 
inth or  Rome."  ^ 

The  origin  of  that  title  as  applied  to  an  officer  in  the  Christian 
Church,  has  been  traced  by  Mosheim  in  his  ecclesiastical  history, 
"It  was  judged  necessary,"  he  says,  "when  the  number  of  pres- 
byters and  deacons  increased  with  that  of  the  churches,  and  the 
sacred  work  of  the  ministry  grew  more  painful  and  weighty  by  a 
number  of  additional  duties,  that  one  man  of  distinguished  gravity 
and  wisdom  should  preside  in  the  council  of  presbyters,  in  order  to 
distribute  among  his  colleagues  their  several  tasks,  and  to  be  a  cen- 
tre of  union  to  the  whole  society.  This  person  was,  at  first,  styled 
"  the  Angel  of  the  ChurdV  to  which  he  belonged,  but  was  after- 
wards distinguished  by  the  name  of  bishop^  or  inspector ;  a  name 
borrowed  from  the  Greek  language,  and  expressing  the  principal 
part  of  the  episcopal  function,  which  was  to  inspect  into  and  super- 
intend the  aflairs  of  the  Church."  "  Let  none  however,"  continues. 
Mosheim,  "  confound  the  bishops  of  this  primitive  and  golden  pe- 
riod of  the  Church  with  those  of  whom  we  read  in  the  following 
ages.  For,  though  they  were  both  distinguished  by  the  same  name, 
yet  they  differed  extremely,  and  that  in  many  respects.  A  bishop, 
during  the  first  and  second  century,  was  a  person  who  had  the  care 
of  one  Christian  assembly,  which  at  that  time  was,  generally  speak- 
ing, small  enough  to  be  contained  in  a  private  house.  In  this  as- 
sembly he  acted,  not  so  much  with  the  authority  of  a  master^  as 
with  the  zeal  and  diligence  of  a  faithful  servant.''''^ 

This  appointment  was  in  conformity  with  the  organization  of  the 
Jewish  Synagogue;  to  which,  indeed,  the  apostolic  churches  bore 
a  remarkable  resemblance.  The  angel,  or  shcliach  zibbor,  selected 
from  among  the  archisunagogoi,  or  chief  rulers  of  the  Synagogue, 
was  by  virtue  of  his  appointment,  the  prime  minister  of  the  con- 
gregation. He  was  not  a  messenger  from  God  to  the  people,  but 
a  messenger  from  the  people  to  God.  In  this  respect  only  he 
seemed  to  differ  in  his  official  character  from  the  angel  of  the 
Christian  Church,  who  was  considered  the  ambassador  of  Christ. 
Hence  the  ministering  presbyter,  for  the  time,  in  each  of  the  seven 
Churches  of  Asia,  was  addressed  as  the  angel  of  his  Church. 
Whether  this  appointment  was  at  first  permanent,  or  as  that  of  the 
shcliach  zibbor  in  the  Synagogue,  which  appears  to  have  been  tem- 
porary and  as  the  occasion  demanded,  is  uncertain.  It  was  evi- 
dently so  in  the  person  of  the  episcopal  presbyter;'  on  whose  death 
the  vacancy  was  supplied  by  the  suffrage  of  the  whole  congregation, 

'Gibbon,  cliap.  15. 

*Mosheim'8  Ecclesiastical  History,  1st  ccntury. 

^The  angel  of  the  Church,  known  afterwards  as  episcopal  presbyter,  was  entitled 
biehop.     Such  was  Clement  of  Rome,  &c. 


1st  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  65 

There  is,  liowevcr,  a  peculiarity  in  the  language  of  the  address 
conlaincd  in  the  Epistles  to  the  churches  which  has  given  rise  to 
the  opinion,  that  there  must  have  been  at  that  time  more  than  one 
individual,  in  each  of  those  churches,  entitled  to  the  distinctive  ap- 
pellation of  angel.  The  expressions  denote  a  plurality  of  persons ; 
thus  Christ  says  to  the  angel  of  the  Church,  in  Thyatira,  "  But 
unto  you  I  say  (Umin  de  lego,)  and  unto  the  rest  in  Thyatira,  {kai 
loipois  tois  en  Thuateiroisy)  "  I  will  put  upon  you  {eph  timas,) 
none  other  burden."  "  But  that  which  ye  have  (o  echele,)  hold  fast 
(kratcsale,)  till  I  come."  Tliis  remark  apj)lies  also  to  the  epistles 
addressed  to  the  several  churches  of  Ephesus,  Smyrna,  and  Ferga- 
mos.  The  only  plausible  solution  of  the  difficulty  is  that  founded 
upon  the  opinion,  that  at  the  period  referred  to,  the  appointment  of 
a  presbyter  of  distinguished  gravity  and  wisdom,  to  preside  in  the 
council  of  the  Church,  was,  like  that  of  the  Sheliach  Zibbor  in 
the  Jewish  Synagogue, /or  the  lime ;  and  that  there  must  have  been, 
at  the  date  of  the  Epistles,  a  plurality  of  persons  in  the  several 
churches  so  addressed,  who  had  successively  occupied  the  seat  of 
presiding  officer.  John,  by  direction  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  addresses 
his  letter,  not  to  the  angel,  or  minister  by  name;  nor  to  the  bishop, 
as  a  diocesan,  which  he  would  doubtless  have  done  had  there  been 
at  the  time,  a  prelate  of  that  distinction  and  rank;  but  to  the  angel 
for  the  time  being,  directly,  and  to  those,  indirectly,  who  may  have 
officiated  in  that  capacity.  Tliis  fact  is  of  importance,  only,  as  ex- 
hibiting the  mild  and  limited  form  of  episcopacy  as  introduced  at 
that  period,  into  the  Church.  Whether  this  appointment,  however, 
was  only  for  the  time,  or  during  life,  it  was  an  acknowledged  inno- 
vation; and  demands  our  attention  as  the  incipient  step  in  the  insti- 
tution of  prelacy. 

Gibbon  remarks,  in  reference  to  the  policy  of  this  measure,  that 
"  The  advantages  of  this  episcopal  form  of  government,  which  ap- 
pears to  have  been  introduced  before  the  end  of  the  first  century, 
were  so  obvious  and  so  important  for  the  future  greatness,  as  well 
as  the  present  peace  of  Christianity ;  it  was  adopted  without  delay 
by  all  the  societies,  which  were  already  scattered  over  the  empire ; 
had  acquired  in  a  very  early  period  the  sanction  of  antiquity ;  and 
is  still  revered  by  the  most  powerful  churches,  both  of  the  East 
and  of  the  West,  as  a  primitive  and  even  as  a  divine'  establish- 
ment." "  After  we  have  passed  the  difficulties  of  the  first  century," 
lie  continues,  "  we  find  tlie  episcopal  government  universally  estab- 
lished, till  it  was  interrupted  by  the  republican  genius  of  the  Swiss 
and  German  reformers."  Such  was  the  new  organization  imparted 
to  the  Christian  Church  at  the  close  of  the  first  century.  From 
this  innovation  in  the  primitive  institution,  we  shall  trace  the  suc- 
cessive changes  which  occurred  through  the  several  succeeding 
ages  to  the  sixteenth  century.     At  each  step  as  we  advance,  from 

'A  similar  concession  has  been  made  to  the  claims  of  royalty  to  a  divine  origin. 

5 


66  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [2d  century. 

this  period,  we  shall  discover  new  features  continually  impressed 
upon  the  ecclesiastical  constitution,  until,  in  the  course  of  time, 
there  remained  scarcely  a  vestige  of  its  original  spirituality  and 
form. 

In  the  year  100,  the  Apostle  John  died  in  Ephesus.  He  had 
returned  from  his  exile  on  the  Island  of  Patmos,  after  the  death  of 
Domitian,  in  96.  With  that  century  closed  the  apostolic  age  of 
the  Church. 


CHAPTER    III. 

A  Church  of  Christ,  is  any  society  of  believing  Christians,  as- 
sociated for  the  worship  of  God  agreeably  to  the  doctrines  of  the 
Gospel.^  When  Christian  churches  were  first  instituted,  as  in  the 
days  of  the  apostles,  such  societies  must  frequently  have  been  small 
in  number,  and  confined  even  to  single  households.  This  we  know 
was  the  character  of  some  of  them.  Paul,  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  sends  his  salutations  to  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  and  "  to  the 
church  that  is  in  their  house."  In  his  Epistle  to  the  Collossians, 
he  mentions  "the  church  which  is  in  the  house  of  Nymphas  ;  and 
in  that  to  Philemon,  he  bestows  his  benedictions  on  "  the  church 
in  his  house."  In  these  several  instances  the  original  word  which 
has  been  translated  hoiise,  is  oikos.  Calmet  remarks,  that  "  In  the 
New  Testament  there  are  two  Greek  words  which  the  translators 
have  rendered  both  hoicse  and  household.  The  first,  [oikos^)  signi- 
fies the  immediate  family  of  the  householder ;  the  other,  (oikia^) 
includes  his  servants  also,  and  they  are  not  interchanged,  in  respect 
to  persons,  in  the  original."- 

Christians  were  not  permitted  to  erect  buildings  for  public  wor- 
ship before  the  third  century.  They  must  therefore,  from  neces- 
sity have  convened  in  private  dwellings;  and  in  times  of  persecu- 
tion, in  places  of  retirement  and  seclusion.  This  occasioned  nu- 
merous associations  in  the  populous  cities,  such  as  were  Rome, 
Ephesus,  Antioch,  &c.,  each  of  which  constituted  a  separate  and 
independent  church,  having  its  presbyter  or  elder  who  had  the 
episcopal  charge  or  oversight  of  his  own  flock,  and  its  deacons 
who  ministered  to  their  temporal  wants.  That  there  were  many 
churches,  at  this  early  period,  in  the  several  cities  in  which  Chris- 

'Acts  ii.  1—44,  47  ;  and  xi.  1,  21. 

^Calinet  further  remarks  on  this  distinction,  that  "  Wc  never  read  of  Oikia  as  be- 
in<r  bai)ti/ccl,  l)ut  of  Oilcos  only;  the  children  fijllowing  their  parents  in  this  rite;  but 
not  the  servants  their  proprietors,  master  or  mistress." 


2d  century.]  the  church  of  ckrist.  67 

tianity  was  planted,  is  evident  from  the  general  tenor  of  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Scriptures.  Paul,  writing  to  the  Romans  from  Cor- 
inth, says,  "The  Churclies  of  Christ  salute  you;"  having  a  mani- 
fest reference  to  those  in  that  city. 

Each  society  of  Christians  formed  within  itself  a  separate  and 
distinct  episcopate.  Their  original  structure  fully  verifies  the  max- 
im, "A"o  Church  icithout  a  bishop.''''  Although  separate  and  co 
ordinate  branches  of  the  visible  Catholic  Church  of  Christ,  they 
were  assimilated  by  a  common  faith,  having  one  Lord,  one  faith, 
one  baptism;  and  preserved  the  unity  of  tiie  spirit  in  the  bond  of 
peace.  "  Independence  and  equality  formed  the  basis  of  their  in- 
ternal constitution."  The  infant  congregations  were  severally  gov- 
erned by  their  own  presbyters.  Although  distmct  in  their  organi- 
zation, they  were  necessarily  united  in  all  matters  of  a  general  in- 
terest :  and  in  their  deliberations  and  decisions  of  questions  which 
would  arise  in  the  administration  of  their  government  and  ordi- 
nances, in  the  settlement  of  controversies  on  rites  and  doctrines, 
and  in  the  conduct  and  management  of  their  temporal  und  spiritual 
aflairs,  an  assembly  in  council  of  all  the  churches  in  a  city  would 
frequently  be  required.  This  constituted  them  one  community,  and 
under  this  collective  title  they  are  spoken  of  in  Scripture  as  the 
Church.  In  the  fifteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  it  is 
stated,  that  a  controversy  arose  between  the  Jewish  and  Gentile 
converts  in  Antioch  about  the  observance  of  the  rite  of  circumcis- 
ion. The  question  was  referred  to  the  Church  in  Jerusalem.  The 
apostles  and  elders  of  that  city  convened  to  deliberate  on  the  mat- 
ter, and  the  final  adjudication  of  the  case  was  made  by  ''f/ie  apos- 
tles.^ elders^  and  brethren,''''  who  submitted  their  decision  to  "  the 
brethren  in  Antioch ;''''  and  when  the  messengers  arrived  in  Antioch, 
"  they  gathered  the  multitude  together,"  and  delivered  to  them  the 
epistle  from  Jerusalem.  Tins  proceeding  exhibits  the  true  charac- 
ter of  the  ecclesiastical  institutions  in  the  time  of  the  apostles. — 
When  Paul  would  communicate  to  the  churches  in  Ephesus  his 
apostolic  counsel  and  spiritual  instructions,  "he  called  together  the 
elders."  Descending  to  a  later  period,  we  have  the  authority  of 
the  historian  Gibbon,  for  the  statement,  that  "  The  epistle  of  Clem- 
ent (which  is  probably  of  as  ancient  a  date  as  the  Apocalypse)  does 
not  lead  us  to  discover  any  traces  of  episcopacy  either  at  Corinth 
or  Rome."^ 

About  the  commencement  of  the  second  century,  tlicn,  we  may 
date  the  earliest  innovation  in  the  government  of  the  Church  as  in- 
stituted by  the  apostles. 

It  does  not  aj)[)ear  that,  in  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  a  presiding 
ofHicer  directed  its  deliberations  and  controlled  its  proceedings;  so 
fearful  were  the  apostles  that  a  precedent  might  lead  to  future  con- 
tentions for  supremacy  in  the  Cluirch.     There  is  no  doubt,  how- 

' Diocesan  Episcopacy  was  here  referred  to  bj'  the  historian.     Gibbon,  ch.  xv. 


68  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [2d  ccntury. 

ever,  tliat  the  incipient  advances  to  power,  in  the  clergy,  inay  be 
traced  from  the  appointment  of  a  presbyter  or  elder  to  preserve 
order  in  the  primary  ecclesiastical  assemblies ;  and  afterward  to 
enforce  their  resolutions.  These  appointments  were  at  first  but 
temporary  ;  and  the  presbyter  so  selected,  either  for  his  known  pi- 
ety and  learning-,  or  from  a  reverence  due  to  his  advanced  age,  was, 
for  the,  time,  the  first  among  his  equals.  The  tenure  of  office  event- 
ually became  permanent ;  and  in  each  city,  there  was  an  officer  in 
the  Ghurcli  distinguished  by  the  title  of  Episcopal  Presbyter.^  "  It 
was  under  these  circumstances,"  says  Gibbon,  "  that  the  lofty  title 
of  bishop,  began  to  raise  itself  above  the  humble  appellation  of 
presbyter-,  and  while  the  latter  remained  the  most  natural  distinc- 
tion for  the  members  of  every  Christian  senate,  the  former  was  ap- 
propriated to  the  dignity  of  its  neio  president.''''  "  Such,"  he  con- 
tinues, "was  the  mild  and  equal  constitution  by  which  the  Chris- 
tians were  governed,  more  than  an  hundred  years  after  the  death  of 
the  apostles." 

This  was  the  first  perceptible  change  in  the  republican  feature 
of  the  government;  and  the  powers  which  had  previously  been 
exercised,  either  by  the  several  elders  within  their  respective  con- 
gregations, or  by  the  joint  action  of  all  the  churches  within  a  city, 
or  by  the  elders  convened  in  ccetu  prcshyterorum,  were  under  this 
new  modification  vested  in  an  ecclesiastical  head.  So  insidious  is 
the  first  effort  to  usurp  authority.  The  episcopal  presbyters,  at 
first,  modestly  claimed  but  a  priority  of  rank  among  their  equals, 
and  acknowledged  themselves  to  be,  "  the  honoi-able  servants  of  a 
free  people."  Vacancies  in  the  newly  instituted  episcopacy,  were 
filled  by  the  suffrages  of  all  the  members  of  the  churches.  JVonne 
et  laid  sacer dotes  sumus  ?  was  the  language  of  the  people ;  and 
from  them  the  bishops  admitted  the  derivation  of  their  ecclesiasti- 
cal powers.  This  sacerdotal  character  of  the  laity,  to  use  a  more 
modern  phraseology,  had  been  acquiesced  in  under  the  practices  of 
the  Church,  from  the  election  of  Matthias  to  the  succession  in  tlie 

'As  the  institution  of  prophets  became  useless,  and  oven  pernicious,  their  powers 
"vvere  withdrawn,  and  tiicir  otKce  abohshcd.  Tlie  j)ubhc  functions  of  religion  were 
solely  intrusted  to  the  established  ministers  of  the  Church,  the  bishojjs  and  the  pres- 
b3rte"rs;  two  appellations,  which,  in  their  orij^in,  appear  to  have  distinguisiicd  the 
same  office  and  the  same  order  of  persons.  The  name  of  Presbyter  was  cxpiessive  of 
their  age,  or  rather  of  their  gravity  and  wisdom.  The  title  of  Bishop  denoted  their  in- 
spection over  the  faith  and  nuumors  of  the  Christians  who  were  committed  to  tiieir 
pastoral  care.  In  [/ro[)oition  to  the  respective  numbers  of  the  faitiiful.  a  larger  or 
smaller  number  of  these  Episcopal  Presbyters  guided  each  infant  congregation  with 
equal  authority  and  with  united  counsels. 

The  order  of  |)ublic  delil)cratioiis  soon  introduced  the  office  of  a  president,  invest- 
ed at  least  with  the  authority  of  collecting  the  sentiments  and  of  executing  the  res- 
olutions of  the  assembly.  A  regard  for  tlic  public  tranquillity,  which  would  so  fre- 
quently have  been  interrupted  by  aimual  or  by  occasional  elections,  induced  the 
primitive  Christians  to  constitute  an  honorable  and  perpetual  magistracy,  and  to 
choose  one  of  the  wisest  and  most  holy  among  their  presbyters,  to  execute  during  his 
life,  the  duties  of  their  ecclesiastical  governor.     Gibbon,  vol.  1,  p.  427. 


2d  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  69 

apostleship ;  and  the  Scriptures  declared,  that  "  Christ  had  made 
them  kings  and  priests  unto  God,"  and,  that  "  tlicy  are  a  chosen 
generation,  a  royal  priesthood." 

About  the  close  of  the  second  century,  occurred  the  next  import- 
ant change  in  the  ecclesiastical  government.^  Provincial  assem- 
blies were  introduced,  for  the  adjudication  of  all  cases  which 
might  arise  in  the  several  episcopates;  and  for  j)romoting  the 
general  interests  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  general  wellare  of 
the  Christian  communities,  now  extensively  diffused  over  the  prov- 
inces of  the  Roman  empire,  required  this  new  organization;  as 
the  more  circumscribed  interests  of  the  individual  chui'ches  in  the 
cities,  had  led  to  the  institution  of  presbyterial  assemblies.  And 
as  from  these,  arose  the  first  model  of  a  limited  diocesan  episcopa- 
cy, so,  from  the  provincial  synods,  or  councils,  arose  a  new  and  a 
higher  order  of  bishops,  the  Metropolitans.  As  in  the  former,  the 
equality  of  all  the  presbyters  was  subverted  by  the  elevation  of  one 
of  them  to  the  episcopal  chair;  so,  in  the  latter,  the  parity  among  the 
episcopal  presbyters,  within  the  same  province,  was  overthrown, 
by  investing  one  of  these  with  superior  powers,  and  extending  his 
jurisdiction  over  all  the  churches  represented  in  the  provincial 
council.  This  new  system  originated  with  the  Eastern  churches; 
which  was  suggested  by  the  ])olitical  confederacies  which  had  uni- 
ted the  Grecian  republics.  These  ecclesiastical  assemblies  were 
called  synods,  in  the  East,  and  councils  in  the  West.  These  newly 
created  bishops  assumed  the  title  of  Metropolitan,  from  their 
seats  being  in  the  principal  cities  of  the  provinces.  Such  was  the 
form  of  government  at  the  close  of  the  second  century ;  and  its 
features  were  not  essentially  changed  until  the  fourth  century;  after 
the  conversion  of  Constantine.  "  In  each  province  of  the  empire, 
there  was  one  bishop  who  claimed  a  priority  of  rank  over  all  oth- 
ers and  exercised  supreme  jurisdiction;"  and,  "in  the  larger  cit- 
ies, there  was,  at  the  head  of  each  church,  a  person  to  wliom  was 
given  the  title  of  bishop,  who  ruled  this  sacred  community  with  a 
certain  sort  of  authority,  in  concert,  however,  with  the  body  of 
presbyters;  and  consulting  in  matters  of  moment,  the  opinion  and 
the  voices  of  the  whole  assembly."  "  This,"  says  Mosheim,  "  ap- 
pears incontestable  from  the  most  authentic  records,  and  the  best 
histories  of  this  and  the  following  centuries."  •- 

As  under  the  first  change  a  contest  for  supremacy  had  been  car- 
ried on  between  the  several  episcopal  presbyters  of  the  same  pro- 
vince, under  this  new  modification,  the  field  of  spiritual  empire  be- 
came more  enlarged.  Each  provincial  bishop  endeavored  lo  ob- 
tain a  superiority  in  rank  over  his  equals ;  and  the  struggle  for  pre- 

' Gibbon,  chap.  xv. 

''At  tlie  close  of  tlic  second  century,  may  be  dated  tbc  institution  of  diocesan  epis 
copao}'.    The  outlines  of  the  episcopal  (rinoinnient  were  establislicd  at  an  earlier  pe- 
riod by  the  appointment  of  episcopal  presbyters. 


70  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [2d  centuvy, 

eminence  was  unabated,  and  conducted  with  unwonted  acrimony 
and  zeal.  Rome,  Anlioch,  and  Alexandria,  were  the  great  compet- 
itors for  the  prize;  and  the  removal  of  the  seat  of  empire  to  the 
East,  raised  in  the  city  of  Constantinople,  a  new  and  formidable 
aspirant,  which  long  disputed  with  imperial  Rome,  the  ambitious, 
but  unfounded  claims  to  universal  sovereignty.  The  prelates  of  the 
Church,  acquired  an  importance  of  character,  and  an  intluence  in 
ecclesiastical  affairs,  in  proportion  to  the  wealth,  the  population, 
and  the  political  weight  of  the  cities,  in  which  they  resided.  Im- 
patient under  an  equal  distribution  of  the  honors,  dignities,  and 
j)owers  they  severally  enjoyed,  each  strove  to  be  without  a  rival; 
and  advanced  pretensions,  sanctioned  neither  by  divine  authority, 
nor.  by  claims  founded  on  prescription.  Tlie  progress  in  the  revo- 
lution, which  was  now  impressing  successive  changes  on  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  Church,  v/as  marked  by  those  peculiar  features 
which  characterize  the  political  events  connected  with  the  subver- 
sion of  all  free  institutions.  The  gradation  from  a  pure  republic 
to  absolute  despotism,  unaccompanied  with  violence,  or  the  inter- 
vention of  active  physical  force,  may  invariably  be  traced  through 
the  usurpations  of  a  minority. 

Before  the  expiration  of  this  century,  the  heads  of  the  Church, 
acknowledging  no  longer  the  people,  as  the  legitimate  source  or 
fountain  of  all  ecclesiastical  power,  exercised  their  prerogatives  as 
of  divine  right.  A  comparison  was  artfully  drawn  between  the 
orders  of  the  clergy  established  in  the  Christian  Church,  and  the 
priesthood  instituted  under  the  Old  Dispensation.  The  last  features 
of  tlie  form  of  synagogue  worship,  had  been  obliterated  by  the  in- 
troduction of  provincial  dioceses,  and  the  imposing  ceremonies  and 
rites  of  the  temple,  were  substituted.  A  radical  change  in  the 
structure,  as  delivered  by  the  apostles,  was  finally  accomplished. 
The  Metropolitan  became  the  proper  representative  of  the  Jewish 
high-priest,  who  officiated  in  the  temple;  the  presbyter  was  the 
image  of  tlie  ordinary  priest,  who  served  at  the  altar;  and  the  dea- 
con occupied  the  station  formerly  allotted  to  the  Levite,  who  dis- 
charged the  inferior  ministerial  duties  in  the  service  of  the  Tem- 
ple.^ In  the  character  of  the  high-priest,  as  the  oracle  of  divine 
truth,  and  the  head  of  the  Church,  the  Metropolitan  bishop  was 
exalted  above  the  people,  and  assumed  to  himself,  a  title  and  digni- 
ty more  excellent  than  those  of  an  apostle.  He  was  no  longer  a 
com-presbyter,  (sumpreshidcros^)  as  Peter  declared  liimselfto  be; 
but  a  high-priest,  who  might  enter  into  the  "Holy  of  Holies,"  to 
make  atonement  for  the  sins  of  the  whole  people;  and  with  the 
'-•  Urim  and  Thummim,"  disclose  the  secret  counsels  of  God.  What 
a  contrast  does  the  picture,  as  yet  in  its  outlines,  present  in  a  com- 

'MoKlicim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  2il  ciiiitury.  Henco  arose  llie  clerical  charac- 
ter of  the  deacons. 


2d  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  "t^ 

parisoii   with   the   plain   and  simple   lineaments  of  the   Christian 
Church  in  its  primitive  form ! 

These  changes  not  only  subverted  the  government  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Church;  but  perverted  and  corrupted  the  spirit  of  divine  wor- 
ship. Jesus  Christ  has  declared  himself  to  be  the  "  High-Friest 
over  the  House  of  God."  If,  then,  it  be  insisted  on,  that  the  Jew- 
ish Church  was  truly  a  type  of  the  Christian  Church,  for  which 
supposition,  however,  there  is  not  the  shadow  of  authority  in  Scrip- 
ture ;  the  Protestant  churches  which  have  rejected  the  episcopal  or- 
der, have  adopted  a  system,  conforming  in  all  its  features,  with  that 
which  was  its  type  or  representative.  Tliey  "  have  a  high-priest, 
who  is  set  on  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  the  Majesty  in  the 
heavens;  a  minister  of  the  sanctuary,  and  of  the  true  tabernacle, 
which  the  Lord  pitched,  and  not  man."  His  ministers  of  the  gos- 
pel correspond  with  the  ordinary  priests  of  the  Temple ;  and  the 
analogy  is  completed  by  the  appointment  of  deacons  who  fullil  the 
duties  customarily  imposed  upon  the  Levites. 

^Vlieu  our  Savior  had  conlirmed  the  covenant,  and  caused  the 
sacrifice  and  the  oblation  to  cease,  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the 
Temple  were  forever  obliterated ;  and  the  office  of  the  Levitical 
priesthood  was  abolished.  Having  appeared  to  put  away  sin  by 
the  sacrifice  of  himself",  and  by  one  offering,  perfectetl  forever  them 
that  are  sanctified  ;  the  system  of  human  intercession  passed  away  ; 
and  every  sinner  in  his  own  person,  and  for  himself,  might  there- 
after, with  boldness,  enter  into  the  Holiest,  by  a  new  and  living 
way,  having  his  heart  sprinkled  from  an  evil  conscience.  Not  only 
^vas  the  priesthood  abolished;  but  Christ,  who  is  now  our  only 
High-Priest,  sprang  i>om  a  tribe  of  which  nothing  was  said  con- 
cerning a  priesthood,  and  thereby  indicated  a  perpetual  abrogation 
of  a  succession.  He  alone  makes  intercession  for  sinners.  As  un- 
der the  old  dispensation  tiien,  reconciliation  for  sin  was  obtained 
through  the  officiating  priest,  or  minister  of  the  sanctuary,  and  by 
the  sacrifices  which  were  presented  by  him  at  the  altar,  atonement 
was  made  for  transgressions  of  the  law;  so  under  a  new  and  better 
covenant,  we  have  through  Christ,  or  his  body,  the  Church,  access 
by  one  spirit  unto  the  Father.  Of  this  body,  all  spiritual  believ- 
ers are  members ;  and  they  are  members  one  of  another. 

The  character  of  a  priest,  or  minister,  tlirough  whom  only  a 
communication  is  opened  between  God  and  the  transgressor,  can- 
not be  recognized  in  the  Church  of  Christ.  No  human  mediation 
enters  into  this  simple  and  glorious  scheme  of  salvation;  and  the 
assumption  of  such  an  olfice  is  not  only  a  perversion  of  the  Spirit 
of  the  Gospel;  but  is  nothing  less  than  an  attempt  to  usurp  the 
throne  of  the  Almighty.  The  apostles,  themselves,  never  pretend- 
ed to  have  attained  to  a  nearer  ap[)roach  to  God  than  other  men, 
except  by  faith  and  evangelical  obedience;  for,  says  Paul,  "The 
righteousness  of  God  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  is  unto  all  and  upon 


72  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [2d  centurj. 

all  them  that  believe;  for  there  is  no  difference.  For 'all  have 
sinned."  Believers  are  called,  "  a  spiritual  house,"  "a  holy  priest- 
hood," to  offer  up  spiritual  sacrifices  acceptable  to  God,  through 
Jesus  Christ,  and  no  longer  through  the  mediation  of  a  priest. 

Such  is  the  Scriptural  plan  of  obtaining  acceptance  with  God, 
divested  of  all  the  pompous  ceremonies,  and  nou'  unmeaning  rites 
of  the  Temple  worship.  "Believe,  and  be  baptized,  and  you  shall 
be  saved,"  is  the  plain,  comprehensive,  and  intelligible  language  of 
Scripture.  Hence  it  was,  that  the  apostles,  who  were  the  ambas- 
sadors of  Christ,  in  his  stead,  bese(?ching  sinners  to  be  reconciled 
to  God,  adopted  the  most  simple  forms  of  government  and  wor- 
ship, in  building  up  the  churches  of  Christ.  There  were  no  tab- 
ernacles, with  the  golden  candlestick,  the  table,  the  shew-bread, 
and  the  golden  censer;  no  altar  for  sacrifices;  no  high-priest  to 
officiate  in  the  sanctuary ;  no  other  ceremonies  in  the  consecration 
to  sacred  orders,  than  the  simple  imposition  of  the  hands  by  co- 
ordinate ministers,  (or  by  the  presbytery  •,y  no  sacrifices  prescrib- 
ed; no  succession  to  the  priestly-office  declared;  no  holy  garments 
for  glory  and  for  beauty  ;  of  gold,  and  purple,  and  scarlet,  and  fine 
linen ;  no  ephod ;  broidered  robes ;  nor  mitre,  with  its  holy  crown 
of  pure  gold,  inscribed  with  "  Holiness  to  the  Lord;"  no  sacerdo- 
tal dignities,  nor  pontifical  prerogatives.  These  were  the  "beg- 
garly elements"  under  the  covenant  of  works;  but  we  are  now  un- 
der a  covenant  of  grace. 

Tlic  introduction  of  the  system  of  the  Jewish  priesthood,  and 
engrafting  it  upon  the  Christian  Church,  corrupted  the  purity  of 
worship;  and  was  the  foundation  of  the  unscriptural  doctrine  of 
justification  by  works,  which  eventually  obliterated  all  traces  of  vi- 
tal religion.  It  was  the  restoration  of  tlie  terms  of  acceptance 
with  God,  which  had  been  declai'ed  by  his  word,  inefficacious  to 
salvation;  as  by  the  deeds  of  the  law  shall  no  one  be  justified. — 
This  ^vas  the  natural  tendency,  of  establishing  tlie  forms  of  the 
Temple  worship,  instituting  its  orders  of  priesthood,  and  requiring 
an  observance  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies  used  in  its  public  ser- 
vices. Altars  were  erected  in  the  churches,  in  imitation  of  those 
employed  in  the  service  of  the  Jewish  Temple;  the  sacrifice  of 
the  mass  followed,  which  has  been  declared  to  be  "a  true,  proper, 
and  propitiatory  sacrifice  offered  unto  God,  for  the  quick  and  the 
dead;"  tithes  and  first-fruits  were  the  natural  accompaniments  of 
this  innovation ;  the  use  of  incense  was  introduced  ;  the  officiating 
priests,  who  were  so  called  after  the  offices  of  the  Temple,  imita- 
ted that  Jewish  order  in  their  costly  and  gorgeous  vestments,  and 
the  sacerdotal  ornament  of  the  mitre,  in  time,  became  one  of  the 
insignia  of  official  dignify;  at  a  later  period,  appeared  the  triple 
crown,  the  tiara  of  the  Jewish  high-priest,  encircling  the  brows  of 
him  who  has  risen  above  all  otlier  dignitaries  in  the  Church  of 

'  1  Timothy,  chap.  iv.  14.. 


2d  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  73 

Christ,  who,  "  as  God,  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing  him- 
self that  he  is  God." 

The  Pi)arisaical  doctrine  of  the  merits  of  works  of  righteous- 
ness superseded  the  scriptural  doctrine  of  justification  hy  faith ; 
and  insinuated  itself  into  the  Church,  with  that  train  of  evils  which 
followed  ihe  introduction  of  the  Jewish  system  of  w"orship  under 
the  abrogated  dispensation  of  the  law.  Hence,  immediately  after, 
arose  a  sect  of  religious,  but  superstitious  devotees  ;  who,  distin- 
guished as  Jlscetics^  claimed  the  merit  of  extraordinary  sanctity,  by 
the  austerity  of  their  habits,  and  the  mortification  of  every  sensual 
feeling.  With  their  works  of  perfect  obedience  and  of  superero- 
gation, they  mingled  the  sublimated  notions  of  Platonism ;  and 
whilst  they  thus  humbled  the  pride  and  lusts  of  the  flesh,  by  an  ex- 
treme abstinence,  they  endeavored  to  elevate  the  soul,  by  abstract- 
ed contemplations  of  the  divine  essence,  of  the  excellencies  and 
perfections  of  the  Supreme  Being.  Deriving  their  tenets  from  two 
corrupt  sources,  the  hypocritical  Pharisees,  and  the  Pagan  philoso- 
phers, they  adopted  a  maxim  which  became  an  article  of  faith  in 
the  Church;  that  "it  is  not  only  lawful,  hut  praiseworthy,  to  de- 
ceive, and  even  to  use  the  expedient  of  a  lie,  in  order  to  advance 
the  cause  of  truth  and  piety."  ^ 

Thus  were  the  fatal  consequences  of  a  departure  from  the  orig- 
inal simplicity  in  the  forms  of  government  and  worship,  of  the 
Christian  Church,  developed  at  an  early  period.  But  the  evils 
multiplied  and  enlarged.  The  progress  in  the  career  of  vice,  was 
uninterrupted,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  inetfectual  efforts  to 
stem  the  torrent  of  corruption;  and  the  usurpations  of  the  hier- 
archy, commenced  in  this  century,  continually  advanced,  until  an 
absolute  despotism  was  established.  Rome,  the  scat  of  the  politi- 
cal empire,  was  an  early  aspirant  to  the  sovereignty  in  the  spiritual 
kingdom. 

Towards  the  close  of  this  century,  arose  the  controversy  on  the 
time  of  celebrating  the  Paschal  Feast,  between  the  Asiatic  and 
Western  churches.  Each  provincial  diocese  exercised  the  right 
of  determining  for  itself;  but  imperial  Rome,  from  whose  Capitol 
were  promulgated  the  laws  which  governed  the  fairest  portions  of 
the  known  world,  asserted  an  equal  supremacy  over  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal provinces  within  the  empire.  Victor,  who  then  occupied  the 
espiscopal  chair,  issued  his  mandate  to  the  bishops  of  the  East,  to 
conform  with  the  West  in  their  observance  of  Easter.  To  this 
imperious  order  the  Asiatics  responded  in  the  language  of  con- 
tempt; and  with  a  becoming  spirit  of  independence,  jjeicmptorily 
refused  a  compliance,  and  expressed  their  determination  not  to  do- 
part  from  Ihe  custom  of  th.eir  ancestors,  in  the  time  of  celel)rating 
this  religious  festival.  Victor  pronounced  their  excommunication 
from  a  fellowship  with  the  other  churches  of  Christendom.     But 

'Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  2d  century. 


74  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST,  [3d  cetitury. 

his  tliuiidcrs  were  regarded,  neither  by  the  Asiatic  nor  the  Western 
churches ;  and  the  presumption  of  Victor  was  humbled  by  a  gen- 
eral disapproval  of  his  violent  and  insulting  measure.  The  con- 
troversy here  ceased,  and  each  party  retained  their  own  customs 
until  the  fourth  century ;  when,  in  325,  the  council  of  Nice  estab- 
lished an  uniform  time  of  celebrating  that  feast  in  all  the  churches. 

In  this  century  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  supper,  was  admin- 
istered to  all  communicants  alike;  and  if  any  were  absent  from 
sickness,  portions  of  the  consecrated  bread  and  wine  were  sent  to 
them.  It  was  believed  to  be  essential  to  salvation ;  and  therefore 
was  administered  to  infants,  immediately  after  their  baptism.  This 
opinion  was  entertained,  for  many  centuries,  by  some  of  the  most 
distinguished  fathers  of  the  Church;  by  Augustine,  Pope  Innocent 
I.,  Cy|)rian,  and  Maldonate  who  also  affirms,  tliat  "  it  was  the  opin- 
ion of  the  first  six  centuries."^ 

In  this,  and  the  following  century,  the  corrupt  influences  of  the 
•oriental  philosophy,  inflicted  a  serious  evil  upon  the  Church,  by 
the  perversion  of  its  doctrines.  A  closer  alliance  was  formed  be- 
tween them  by  the  popularity  of  a  new  sect  which  arose  and  as- 
sumed the  name  oi^  Platonics.  Their  system  was  formed  by  blend- 
ing togetiicr,  the  opinions  and  principles  of  other  sects,  which  they 
attempted  to  harmonize  under  one  head;  and  they  were  thence 
called  Eclectics.  Origen  adopted  the  tenets  of  this  sect;  and  from 
this  source,  "  The  doctors,"  says  Mosheim,  "  began  to  introduce 
their  subtle  and  obscure  erudition  into  the  religion  of  Jesus."  From 
tliese  arose  tlie  mystics,  and  the  societies  of  monks ;  and  hence, 
undoubtedly,  originated  many  foolish  ceremonies  in  the  Church, 
which  are  still  religiously  observed.  Among  these  may  be  men- 
tioned, the  custom  of  praying  towards  the  East ,  which  originated 
with  the  Magi,  and  was  from  them  introduced  into  the  Christian 
worship;  as  were,  in  the  following  ages,  many  other  rites  practiced 
by  those  pagan  idolaters.  It  is  evident  that  the  Church,  from  the 
period  of  a  change  in  its  government,  rapidly  apostatized  from  the 
ancient  faith,  and  at  every  step  descended  still  lower  into  the  abyss 
of  heathenism  and  superstition.  At  the  close  of  this  century  flour- 
ished Irenaius  and  Tertullian.- 

The  general  outlines  of  the  government  of  the  Church,  as  estab- 
lished in  the  preceding  century,  were  not  sensibly  changed  in  this, 
the  third  century;  except  perhaps  in  this  respect,  that  the  pre-emi- 
nence was  universally  conceded  to  the  bishoj)s  of  Rome,  of  Antioch, 
and  of  Alexandria,  as  the  heads  of  what  were  called  Apostolic 
Churches.  In  the  exercise  of  any  peculiar  prerogatives,  however, 
their  powers  were  not  only  questioned,  but  in  many  instances,  were 
absolutely  denied.     In  the  controversy,  which  arose  on  the  ques- 

'Daillc,  on  tlie  right  use  of  the  Fathers. 

'  "  J^ulla  Ecclcda  sine  Episcopo,  has  been  a  fact  as  well  as  a  maxim  since  the  time 
of  TertulHan  aiid  lrcna:us."     Gibbon,  c!iap.  .\v. 


Sd  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  75 

tion  of  baptizing  heretics,  Cyprian,  the  bishop  of  Carthage,  disre- 
garded the  menacing  language  of  Stephen,  the  bishop  of  Rome; 
who  insisted  upon  an  admission  into  the  Church,  of  all  recanting 
heretics,  without  a  second  administration  of  that  ordinance.  The 
Eastern  churches,  including  those  in  Africa,  received  them  as  cate- 
chumens, who  were  not  entitled  to  full  membership  before  a  bap- 
tism, on  their  new  profession  of  faith.  This  pre-eminence,  there- 
fore, was  more  of  distinction  than  of  prerogatives.  From  this  dis- 
tinction, certain  privileges  were  claimed,  and  even  acquiesced  in, 
but  they  were  uncertain  and  undefined  ;  and  hence,  arose  frequent  an- 
gry contioversies,  in  which  the  ])arties  acknowledging  no  common 
tribunal  of  adjudication,  maintained  with  obstinacy,  their  respective 
opinions.  The  peace  of  the  Church,  was,  throughout  this  century, 
disturbed  by  the  conflicting  claims  of  these  aspiring  prelates;  not 
only  by  their  frequent,  but  unsuccessful  attempts  to  extend  their 
provincial  jurisdictions;  but,  by  the  restrictions  which  they  suc- 
cessively drew  around  the  inferior  orders  of  the  clergy  within  their 
respective  dioceses,  and  by  their  continued  encroachments  on  the 
privileges  of  the  laity. 

Each  bishop  became  an  absolute  sovereign  within  his  province; 
and  in  the  populous  and  opulent  cities,  a  style  of  extravagance,  and 
habits  of  luxury  and  indolence,  were  introduced.  "  A  throne,"  says 
Mosheim,  "  surrounded  with  ministers,  exalted  above  his  equals, 
the  servant  of  the  meek  and  humble  Jesus  ;  and  sumptuous  gar- 
ments dazzled  the  eyes  and  the  minds  of  the  multitude  into  an  ig- 
norant veneration  for  their  arrogated  authority."  The  example  of 
their  spiritual  lords,  seduced  the  clergy  to  imitate  their  splendor 
and  their  princely  exhibitions  of  wealth,  as  well  as  their  follies  and 
their  vices.  Each  order  became  contaminated ;  and  all  traces  of 
religion  were  vanishing  from  the  Church,  from  the  general  neglect 
of  the  sacred  duties  of  the  clerical  office.  To  supj)ly  the  vacan- 
cies in  the  functions  of  the  several  orders,  inferior  grades  of  offi- 
ces were  established,  and  upon  these  devolved  the  duties  in  the 
administration  of  the  ordinances,  and  in  the  preaching  of  the  word. 
In  this  century  were  introduced  into  the  Church,  readers,  sub-dea- 
cons, acolythi,  exorcists,  &c.  &c.,  whose  services  were  required  to 
relieve  their  indolent  superiors. 

The  clergy  were  not  forbidden  to  marry;  but,  a  character  of 
peculiar  sanctity  was  attached  to  those,  who  refrained  from  wed- 
lock, and  publicly  abjured  the  nuptial  state.  To  exhibit  in  a  more 
exemplary  manner  the  virtue  of  their  self-denial,  and  their  com- 
plete triumph  over  the  temptations  of  sensual  indulgences,  they 
lived  on  terms  of  the  most  intimate  association  with  those  women 
who  had  made  solemn  vows  of  perpetual  chastity,^  professing  to 
maintain  such  delicate  intercourse  in  perfect  purity  and  innocence. 

'These  holy  conciil)ines  were  cnlled  by  the  Greeks,  Suncisaktoi ;  and  by  tlie  Lat- 
ins, Mxdieres  subintroductcc.''^    Their  true  characters  were  scarcely  equivocal. 


76  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [3d  century. 

Such  was  the  lamentable  condition  of  the  Church,  within  a  cen- 
tury from  the  institution  of  diocesan  episcopacy.  This  degeneracy 
sprung  up  and  flourished  amidst  the  severest  persecutions,  by  the 
Roman  emperors,  and  presents  a  moral  phenomenon  in  the  history 
of  man.  Within  that  period  successive  bishops  of  Rome  were 
martyred.  The  character  of  the  Christians,  as  a  sect,  was  calum- 
niated by  men  of  influence  in  the  state,  and  by  the  distinguished 
writers  of  the  age.  Rome  was  still  pagan ;  and  the  secular  arm 
was  wielded  against  those  who  professed  the  Cliristian  faith.  They 
were  not  permitted  to  erect  sanctuaries  of  public  worship-,  but 
assembled  in  private  houses,  and  frequently  in  secret,  around  the 
tombs  of  their  martyrs.  Under  all  these  severe  restrictions,  such 
was  the  inevitable  tendency  of  the  form  of  ecclesiastical  govern- 
ment to  despotism  and  to  moral  corruption,  that  the  controlling 
power  of  the  empire  was  unable  to  check  the  abuses  which  sprung 
up  under  it.  The  Church  was  destitute  of  a  physical  force  to 
oom.mand  obedience  to  its  mandates ;  but  it  exerted,  notwithstand- 
ing, a  moral  energy  over  the  minds  of  the  people  which  continual- 
ly extended  the  sphere  of  its  authority.  The  splendor  and  the 
corruption  which  circled  around  the  episcopal  throne,  gave  to  it  a 
factitious  charm  wliich  fascinated  the  vulgar  and  the  superstitious, 
Victor,  who  thundered  his  anathemas  against  the  ecclesiastical 
provinces  of  all  Asia,  was  soon  after  made  sensible  of  his  imbecil- 
ity, by  an  edict  from  Severus,  for  his  martyrdom^  Irenseus,  who 
replied  to  Victor  in  a  synodical  epistle,  in  the  name  of  the  Gallic 
churches,  shared  the  fate  of  his  adversary.  Stephen,  who  issued 
a  sentence  of  excommunication  against  the  bishop  of  Carthage,  and 
the  Asiatic  and  African  churches,  in  a  tone  of  imperial  authority, 
was  beheaded  by  an  order  from  the  emperor,  Valerian.  Such  was 
the  weakness,  and  the  spiritual  pride  of  those  aspiring  prelates. — • 
Cyprian,  although  of  a  meek  and  amiable  temper,  and  who,  to  the 
haughty  language  of  Ste[)hen,  replied  in  a  spirit  of  Christian  hu- 
mility, was,  like  that  insolent  and  overbearing  bishop,  a  helpless 
victim  in  the  hands  of  the  executioner. 

^The  erection  of  buildings  for  public  worship,  opened  a  new 
field  for  the  multiplication  of  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  stimulated 
the  clergy  to  an  increased  display  of  magnificence  and  grandeur 
in  the  forms  of  religious  service.     The  ignorant  populace  are  eas- 

'In  the  reign  of  Alexander,  Uio  first  Christian  churches  were  supposed  to  have 
been  crcfted  hotwocn  the  years  222  and  235.  In  Rome  they  were  called  RasiliciB, 
from  their  resemblance  to  buildings  of  that  name,  devoted  to  meetings  of  the  senate 
and  to  judicial  purposes.  Constantinc,  in  the  following  century,  i)resented  to  the 
Christians,  his  palace  on  the  Cajlian  Hill,  and  on  tliis  site  was  erected  a  Ihiailica. — 
They  arc  termed  Kuritilca  in  Greek.  The  term  Kcclcfihi  refers  more  particularly  to  the 
Assemi)ly,  or  Body  of  Christians,  and  to  the  Church  in  its  spiritual  character.  Next 
to  the  Hasilica,  built  in  the  reign  of  Constantino,  was  the  Church  of  St.  Peter,  in  tiie 
earne  reign,  on  the  V^atican  hill,  A.  D.  324.  About  twelve  centuries  after,  it  was  ta- 
ken down  by  Pope  .Julius  II.,  and  the  present  Church  of  St.  Peter,  erected,  and  fin- 
ished in  the  pontificate  of  Leo  X. 


3d  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  77 

ily  captivated  by  splendid  exhibitions ;  and  when  connected  with 
the  rites  of  divine  worship,  their  imaginations  very  readily  attach 
to  them  superstitious  reverence  and  awe.  This  natural  attachment 
of  the  vulgar,  to  an  ostentatious  splendor  in  the  external  forms  in 
religion,  has  been  very  successfully  directed,  by  the  ])a[jal  hier- 
archy, in  its  advancement  to  power ;  and  in  the  age  of  ignorance 
and  supej'stition  of  which  we  write,  this  moral  inlluence  must  iiave 
operated  with  extiaordniary  cflicacy.  It  is,  moreover,  to  be  recol- 
lected, that  the  Church  of  Christ  may  be  said  to  have  been  at  this 
time  in  the  midst  of  a  pagan  population ;  the  admiring  spectators 
of  these  religious  rites,  were  therefore,  heathen  idolaters.  A  great- 
er part  of  the  forms  introduced  in  this  and  the  succeeding  age, 
was  adapted  to  harmonize  with  their  polytheistic  jM'ejudices. — 
"  There  is  no  doubt  that  Christians,  for  this  reason,  wejc  allowed 
to  dance,  sport,  and  feast  at  the  tombs  of  the  martyrs,  upon  their 
respective  festivals,  and  to  do  every  thing  which  the  pagans  were 
accustomed  to  do  in  their  temples,  during  the  feasts  celebrated  in 
honor  of  their  gods." 

The  bread  and  wine  were  both  administered  in  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, to  all  communicants  alike.  They  were  even  permitted  to  car- 
ry away  the  consecrated  elements,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  cere- 
mony ;  which  they  nfight  partake  of  in  private.'  And  in  connec-. 
lion,  it  might  be  here  remarked,  that  the  denial  of  the  wine  to  the 
laity,  was  not  introduced  into  the  Church  until  tlie  iifteenth  cen- 
tury, when  it  was  made  a  rule  by  the  council  of  Constance,  A.  D. 
1415.  Of  this  there  is  undoubted  evidence  throughout  the  succes- 
sive centuries  which  intervened.  In  the  middle  of  the  fifth  cen- 
tury, Leo  the  Great  distinguished  the  jMcmichees^  from  those  who 
were  received  as  the  orthodox  members  of  the  Church,  by  the 
former  refusing  to  partake  of  the  wine;  and  warns  the  Church 
against  them.  Gelasius,  at  the  close  of  the  same  century,  decreed, 
"  That,  as  there  were  some,  from  a  superstitious  conceit,  who 
would  not  partake  of  the  consecrated  blood,  they  should  be  pro- 
hibited from  any  participation  in  the  sacrament" — "  for  as  much  as, 
there  cannot,  without  great  saci'ilege,  be  any  division  made  in  one 
and  tlie  same  mystery." 

It  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Church,  "  that  baptism  procured  for 
the  newly  initiated  the  remission  of  sins;"  and  Cyprian,  in  confirm- 
ation of  this,  expressly  says,  "  It  is  manifest  where,  and  by  whom 
the  remission  of  sins,  which  is  conferred  in  baptism  is  administered. 
They  who  are  presented  to  the  rulers  of  the  Chuich,  obtain  by  our 
prayers  and  imposition  of  hands  the  Holy  Ghost."  Before  the  ad- 
ministration of  that  ordinance,  the  catechumen  was  released  from 
the  bondage  of  Satan,  by  certain  formulas  of  words  and  ceremonies 
of  an  exorcist.  Honey  and  milk  were  put  into  his  mouth  ;  and  he 
was  anointed  both  before  and  after  that  holy  rite. 

'Daille,  on  the  Feathers. 


78  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [3d  ccnlury. 

Altars  were  erected  in  tlie  churches  and  wax  (apcrs  introduced. 
This  was  probably  taken  from  the  custom  of  ttie  irla2;ian  worship- 
pers who  used  fires  as  emblems  of  the  sun,  which  they  adored  as 
the  symbol  or  representation  of  the  angel  of  light.  It  will  be  ob- 
served, in  the  progress  of  the  Church  through  all  its  stages  of  cor- 
ruption, tliat  its  religious  rites  and  ceremonies  were  faithful  imita- 
tions of  the  pagan  mysteries.  From  the  period  of  the  introduction 
of  diocesan  episcopacy  with  its  concomitant  abuses  and  usurpations, 
may  be  projjerly  dated  the  origin  of  popery.  In  each  century,  as 
we  proceed  in  its  histoiy,  we  shall  perceive  its  continued  growth 
and  increase  of  power,  until  it  acquired  a  perfect  maturity  and 
strength,  and  reduced  to  subjection  the  most  powerful  kingdoms  of 
the  earth. 

The  doctrine  of  a  necessary  purification  of  the  soul  after  death, 
before  it  was  in  a  proper  state  for  the  enjoyment  of  celestial  hap- 
piness, was  introduced  in  this  century  by  Manes,  a  Persian  philoso- 
pher, who  embraced  the  Christian  faith.  This  was  the  foundation 
of  that  wild  fiction,  picrgatory ;  which  a  few  ages  after  was  matured 
into  a  system,  and  now  constitutes  an  important  part  of  that  great 
machinery  by  which  the  papal  hierarchy  controls  the  superstitious 
fears  of  its  votaries. 

The  ideas  of  Plato,  on  the  future  state  of  existence  of  those  who, 
by  reason  of  their  vices,  are  not  prepared  to  enter  into  the  immedi- 
ate enjoyment  of  happiness  after  death,  formed  the  basis  of  the 
Manichsean  system  of  purgation.  Manes  maintained,  that  "  The 
total  purification  of  souls  cannot  be  accomplished  during  this  mor- 
tal life.  Hence  the  souls  of  men,  after  death,  must  pass  through 
two  states  more  of  probation  and  trial,  by  water  and  /re,  before 
they  can  ascend  to  the  region  of  light."  Through  this  process  must 
those  souls  ])ass,  who  have  been  true  believers,  and  have  combated 
against  temptations,  &c.  But  those  souls,  who  have  in  this  life 
neglected  the  salutary  work  of  their  purification,  are  excluded  from 
these  regions  of  expurgation.  In  this  system,  of  which  I  have 
drawn  but  a  simple  outline,  we  discover  the  distinction  between  the 
diffeient  degrees  in  sins,  wM^ich  was  afterwards  adopted  by  the  Po- 
pish church.  This  distinction  now  embraces  but  two  degrees; 
those  \vhich  are  venial,  and  tliose  which  are  mortal.  The  puifish- 
ment  of  the  former  consists  in  the  temporary  pains  of  purgatory. 
But  for  the  latter,  no  pardon  can  be  obtained  but  by  confession  to  a 
priest,  and  the  performance  of  penances  imposed  by  him  upon  the 
offender. 

Augustine,  the  great  luminary  of  the  primitive  church,  embraced 
for  a  time  the  theories  of  Manes;  and  hence  in  his  writings  may 
be  discovered  indefinite  and  vague  allusions  to  the  system.  The 
Church  had  not  then  reached  that  point  of  extravagance  and  folly.' 

'"In  quo  (dio  jiulioii)   nobis  ost  ille  indcfcssnft  ignis  obonndiis,  in  quo  subeimda 
■  sunt  gravia  ilia  cx|)iandoe  a  peccalis  animic  siipplioia."     (Hillary.)     Such  was  the 
obscure  notion  of  another  of  the  fathers  on  the  subject. 


3d  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  79 

Among  other  absurdities,  Manes  contended,  that  Christ  was  a 
mere  phantom;  and  that  lie  ditl  not  therefore,  sutrer  pain  upon  ihe 
cross.  He  denied  the  resurrection  of  tlie  body,  but  not  that  of  the 
soul ;  as  it  was  to  save  the  latter  only  that  he  appeared  in  the  world. 
Augustine  was  not  the  only  one  of  those  venerable  fathers  ^vho 
adopted  the  errors  and  heretical  opinions  of  the  Manicha^ans.  Hil- 
lary, who  flourished  in  the  fourth  century,  maintained,  that  "Christ 
was  supposed  to  have  felt  pain,  because  he  suffered  ;  but  he  was 
really  free  from  all  pain,  because  he  is  God." 

The  custom  of  olfering  up  prayers  for  the  sainis  departed,  was 
introduced  into  the  Church  in  this  century.  "  We  pray,"  says 
Epiphanius,  "  for  the  just,  the  fathers,  the  patriarchs,  the  prophets, 
apostles,  evangelists,  martyrs,  &c.,  that  we  may  distinguish  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  from  the  order  of  men,  by  that  honor  which  we 
pay  to  him."  In  the  liturgy  of  Chrysostom,  bishop  successively 
of  Antioch  and  of  Constantinople,  there  is  a  f^orm  of  prayer,  "for 
all  those  who  have  departed  this  life."  In  a  subsequent  age,  these 
departed  saints  became  themselves  the  ohjecls  of  idolatrous  wor- 
ship; and  even  their  relics  were  held  in  religious  veneration. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  was  at  this  time  a  subject  of  animat- 
ed controversy.  Paul,  of  Samosata,  bishop  of  Antioch,  maintained 
that  tlie  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost  exist  in  God,  as  the  faculties  of 
reason  exist  in  man.  Tertullian  had  contended  that  the  Father  is  the 
whole  substance,  and  the  Son  a  portion  or  derivation  of  that  whole. 
Dionysius,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  another  father  of  the  Church,  de- 
clared the  Son  to  be  the  work  or  workmanship  of  the  Father.  A  coun- 
cil at  Antioch,  A.  D.  269  ;  which  condemned  Paul,  decreed  neverthe- 
less, that  "  The  Son  is  not  of  the  same  essence  with  the  Father." 
This  decree  denied  the  Jiomooiision,  or  consubstantiality  of  the 
Father  and  the  Son.  This  question  agitated  tlie  Church  at  differ- 
ent periods  from  this  time,  and  has  been  variously  decided  ;  one 
council  condemning  the  judgment  of  another,  and  fathers  maintain- 
ing opposite  opinions.  So  diverse  were  these  judgments  and  opin- 
ions, that  it  is  impossible  to  determine  what  was  the  received  doc- 
trine of  the  Church,  at  any  period,  for  the  first  five  or  six  centuries 
of  the  Christian  era.  Tiiere  was  no  common  tribunal,  with  appel- 
late jurisdiction,  by  whom  an  ordinance  "ex  cathedra"  would  de- 
finitively terminate  all  controversies.  As  an  evidence  of  this,  the 
council  of  Laodicea  in  361,  excluded  by  a  decree,  the  Apocrypha 
from  the  canonical  books  of  the  Old  Testament.  All  the  canons  of 
this  council  were  inserted  in  the  code  of  the  Cliurch  universal,  and 
were  therefore  received  as  of  binding  authority  on  all.  In  397,  a 
Synod  of  Carthage  ordained,  that  the  Books  of  the  Apocrypha 
should  be  read  in  their  churches;  and  in  the  l)eginning  of  the  fifth 
century,  Pope  Innocent  I.,  repealed  by  his  decree  that  of  the  coun- 
cil of  Laodicea.  The  council  at  Nice,  in  3i5,  reversed  the  decree 
of  the  council  at  Antioch  in  269 ;  declaring  that  "  The  Son  is  con- 


80  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [3d  century. 

substantial  with  the  Father ;"  and  thereby  affirming  the  homoousion 
which  the  fatliers  at  Antioch  had  denied.  But  the  great  lights  of 
the  Church  have  been  uncertain  beacons  in  directing  us  to  the  truth. 
Tertullian  maintained  that,  "  The  soul  is  propagated  from  the  fatiier 
to  the  son  by  the  natural  course  of  generat  on;"  and  Jerome  after- 
wards affirmed,  that  this  opinion  was  generally  received  by  the 
western  churches  as  orthodox  in  the  age  of  Tertullian.  He,  how- 
ever, contended  that  "  The  soul  is  a  new  creation  when  united  to 
the  body,"  and  informs  us,  that  in  his  time  the  Church  so  believed. 
Cyril  affirmed,  that  "The  Holy  Ghost  proceeds  properly  from  the 
Son."  Theocioret  replied,  "  To  say  that  the  Holy  Ghost  has  its 
subsistence  from  the  Son,  or  by  the  Son,  is  impious  and  blasphe- 
mous." 

The  learning  and  sopliistry  of  the  age  were  arrayed  against  the 
Christian  Church.  It  was  attacked,  by  the  powers  of  eloquence 
and  by  the  writings  of  the  most  highly  endowed  minds.  Every 
artifice  and  every  stratagem  were  resorted  to ;  having  for  their  ob- 
ject the  destruction  of  the  entire  building  of  which  Christ  himself 
was  the  chief  corner-stone.  These  opponents,  professing  to  be 
Christians,  were  more  dangerous  to  evangelical  truth  by  their  cov- 
ert and  insidious  attacks  upon  the  doctrines  of  the  gospel. 

Another  stratagem  resorted  to,  was,  to  detract  from  the  divine 
character  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  a  comparison  of  his  life  and  holiness 
with  the  virtues  of  the  ancient  philosophers.  The  parallel  was 
made  more  specious  and  imposing,  by  the  fictions  and  exaggera- 
tions with  which  their  delineations  were  heightened  on  the  one 
hand,  and  by  the  misrepresentations  and  detractions  to  which  they 
descended  on  the  other.  Nor  were  the  Jews  inactive  in  tlieir  ma- 
licious attempts  to  prejudice  the  pagan  world  against  the  Christian 
Church. 

THE  DAWN  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  middle  of  the  third  century  was  the  period  of  a  new  era  in 
the  Christian  Church.  About  a  century  had  elapsed  since  the  in- 
troduction of  a  new  order  of  ecclesiastics  in  the  government  of  the 
Church,  and  a  century  and  a  half  since  the  first  important  innova- 
tion in  the  forms  of  the  apostolic  institution.  A  new  system  had 
arisen,  but  it  was  a  system  of  falsehood  and  iniquity,  retaining  noth- 
ing of  the  purity  and  the  simplicity  of  the  original  structure.  A 
new  form  of  government,  new  doctrines,  new  rites  and  ceremonies, 
new  conditions  of  acceptance  with  God,  moral  principles  alien  from 
those  inculcated  in  the  gospel,  constituted  a  system  having  scarcely 
a  feature  of  resemblance  to  tliat  building  which  was  raised  upon 
the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself 
being  the  chief  corner-stone.  Vice  and  superstition  had  banished 
all  traces  of  vital  religion.  Those  who  should  have  been  ministers 
of  the  truth,  were  but  false  prophets  and  lying  teachers,  who  had 


3d  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  81 

forsaken  the  right  way ;  beguiling  unstable  souls ;  with  hearts  ex- 
ercised with  covetous  practices ;  loving  the  wages  of  unrighteous- 
ness, and  promising  liberty  while  they  were  themselves  the  servants 
of  corruption.  Such  was  the  character  and  the  condition  of  the 
Cliurch ;  without  a  form  of  godliness ;  having  a  name  without  a 
spiritual  life. 

In  this  age  of  moral  degeneracy  and  general  apostasy  from  the 
religion  of  the  gospel,  arose  a  man  "  of  uncommon  learning  and 
eloquence,  but  of  an  austere  and  rigid  character,"  who  dared  to 
denounce  the  abuses  and  corruption  of  a  wicked  hierarchy,  and  to 
raise  the  standard  of  reformation. 

Novatian,  a  presbyter  of  the  Church  in  Rome,  in  the  year  251, 
ai)jured  his  ecclesiastical  connection,  and  organized  a  church  on  the 
forms  and  doctrines  ^prescribed  in  the  gospel ;  of  which  he  Avas 
elected  an  episcopal  presbyter,  or  pastor. 

The  bishops  of  the  established  churches,  says  Robinson,  fond  of 
proselytes,  had  encouraged  unbecoming  and  vitiating  practices  in 
the  admission  of  wicked  and  unbelieving  persons  into  the  bosom  of 
the  Church ;  and  had  "  transferrred  the  attention  of  Christians, 
from  tlie  old  confederacy  for  virtue,  to  vain  shows  at  Easter,  and 
other  Jewish  ceremonies;  adulterated,  too,  with  paganism."  No- 
vatian rigidly  opposed  those  practices,  and  other  abuses,  which  had 
overwhelmed  the  Church  in  a  tide  of  infidelity  and  moral  corrup- 
tion :  and  this  opposition  brought  upon  him  a  sentence  of  excom- 
munication, and  an  anathema  was  denounced  against  him  as  a  schis- 
matic and  a  disorganizer. 

"  People  every  where,"  says  the  same  writer,  "saw  Avith  Nova- 
tian, the  same  cause  of  complaint,  and  groaned  for  relief;  and  when 
one  man  made  a  stand  for  virtue,  the  crisis  had  arrived ;  people 
saw  the  propriety  of  the  cure,  and  applied  the  same  means  to  their 
own  relief"  Novatian,  and  the  churches  which  were  formed  upon 
the  principles  of  reformation  he  advocated,  have  been  unsparingl}"^ 
censured  for  the  severity  of  their  discipline,  (they  assumed  them- 
selves the  title  of  Cathari  or  Purita7is,)  but  the  magnitude  of  the 
evils  justly  complained  of,  demanded  an  uncompromising  hostility 
to  vice  in  all  its  forms.  All  who  saw  the  fatal  departure  of  the 
Church  from  its  primitive  simplicity  and  purity,  and  desired  its  re- 
storation to  spiritual  excellence,  rallied  around  the  standard  of  re- 
formation, for  the  moral  regeneration  of  Christendom.  Puritan 
churches,  as  they  were  called,  were  established  in  almost  every 
province  of  the  empire ;  and  flourished  for  nearly  three  hundred 
years.  In  the  midclle  of  the  following  century,  they  covered  some 
of  the  most  populous  districts,  or  provinces,  of  Asia  Minor;  and 
in  the  reign  of  Constantine  JI.,  the  Novatians,  who  were  then  per- 
secuted for  their  adherence  to  the  doctrines  cf  Athanasius,  Avere 
extensively  diffused  through  the  provinces  watered  by  the  Halys; 
and  had,  no  doubt,  extended  their  settlements  to  the  banks  of  the 
6 


82  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [3d  ccntury. 

Euphrates.  Before  the  middle  of  the  fifth  century  they  had  plant- 
ed churches  heyond  the  Volga,  in  Scythia;  and  history  has  record- 
ed the  death  of  a  Novatian  bishop,  in  that  northern  region,  in  the 
year  439.  There  were  among  them,  at  dithsrent  periods,  writers 
of  eminence  and  distinction.  Of  these,  the  names  of  Agehus,  Ace- 
sius,  Sisinnius,  and  Marcian  of  Constantinople,  have  been  preserv- 
ed. "  The  vast  extent  of  this  sect,"  says  Dr.  Lardner,  ■•'  is  mani- 
fest from  the  names  of  the  authors  who  have  mentioned  them,  or 
written  against  them,  and  from  the  several  parts  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire in  which  they  were  found." 

Novatian  published  a  treatise  on  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity,  in 
the  year  257.  His  views  were  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  lan- 
guage and  spirit  of  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament,  and  are 
now  admitted  to  be  orthodox.  In  this  worlvkhe  treats  of  "  the  na- 
ture, power,  goodness,  justice,  &c.  of  God  the  Father,  and  of  the 
worship  due  to  him*,"  "  the  prophecies  in  the  Old  Testament  con- 
cerning Christ;  their  actual  accomplishment;  his  nature;  Scriptu- 
ral proofs  of  his  Divinity,  &c.,  and  shows  that  it  was  Christ  who 
appeared  to  the  patriarchs,  Abraham,  Jacob,  Moses,"  &c. ;  "  of 
the  Holy  Spirit;  how  promised  ;  given  by  Christ;  his  offices  and 
operations  on  the  souls  of  men,  and  in  the  Church,"  &c.  His 
writings  evince  clearer  views  of  the  theology  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, than  the  works  of  any  preceding  or  cotemporary  expounder 
of  the  Scriptures, 

Novatian  was  a  regularly  ordained  presbyter  of  the  Christian 
Church  ;  and  was  legitimately  within  the  line  of  apostolic  succes- 
sion.i  jjjs  church  was  organized  on  the  true  principles  of  the  gos- 
pel ;  and  he  was  the  ordained  pastor  of  it  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
three  years  before  the  bishop  of  Rome  assumed  the  title  of  Pope ; 
he  was,  therefore,  not  an  anti-pope,  as  the  papists  have  styled  him; 
and  five  hundred  years  before  the  investiture  of  temporal  powers 
in  the  pope ;  his  spiritual  character,  must  of  consequence,  be  unim- 
peachable, and  his  church  be  acknowledged  a  true  and  apostolic 
Christian  church. 

But  Novatian  was  excommunicated  for  heresy  and  schism.  His 
heresy,  however,  was  that  of  Paul,  who  worshipped  the  God  of 
his  fathers,  believing  in  all  things  which  are  written  in  the  law  and 
the  prophets  ;  and  his  schism  an  act  of  obedience  to  the  command 
of  God,  "  to  come  out  from  among  them,  and  be  separate,  and  not 
to  touch  the  unclean  thing."     What  part  could  he  that  believed 

'IrencDus  declares,  that  "  Tiie  succossioii,  and  together  with  it,  tlie  episcopate  al- 
so, had,  down  to  this  day,  (the  latter  part  of  the  socond  century,)  descended  through 
a  series  of  presbyters,  not  of  bishops."  Both  bishops  and  presbyters,  must  now 
trace  the  succession,  if  traced  at  all,  tlirough  the  Church  of  Rome.  'J'herc  were  in 
this  Church,  at  one  time,  four  pontiffs,  who  all  denounced  each  other  as  usurpers. 
All,  in  fine,  that  can  bo  pleaded  on  this  subject,  can  be  pleaded  by  presbyters,  equal- 
ly with  bishops."     Dwighl's  Theology,  161st  Sermon. 


4th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  83 

have  with  those  who  were  infidels  ?     Christ  hath  no  concord  with 
Belial :  the  temple  of  God  no  agreement  with  idols. 

If  the  excommunication  of  Novatian  were  a  legitimate  excision 
from  the  succession,  let  the  advocates  of  apostolic  lineage  unite 
the  broken  links  in  this  imaginary  chain  of  presbyters,  bishops, 
Metropolitans,  patriarchs  and  popes,  through  a  series  of  eighteen 
hundred  years,  from  tlie  martyrdom  of  Peter  to  the  accession  of 
his  holiness,  who  "as  God,  now  sitteth  in  the  temple  of  God,  show- 
ing himself  that  he  is  God."  Let  them  but  trace  an  unbroken  suc- 
cession, through  the  first  ten  hundred  years  of  cimmerian  darkness 
which  overshadowed  the  Christian  Church,  of  popes  precipitated 
from  the  chair  of  St.  Peter;  anathematized  and  excommunicated 
by  their  more  successful  rivals  ;  of  two,  and  sometimes  three  and 
four  usurpers  exercising,  at  the  same  time,  a  spiritual  authority 
over  the  Church,  and  mutually  thundering  on  each  other  anathemas 
and  curses,  as  schismatics,  excommunicated  heretics,  and  disor- 
ganizers. 


CHAPTERIV. 

We  turn  from  that  glimmering  light  which  suddenly  arose  on  a 
benighted  world,  in  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  to  the  gloomy 
history  of  the  Church,  descending  still  deeper  into  the  abyss  of 
paganism  and  corruption.  Happily  for  the  religious  liberty  of  man, 
that  light  was  not  extinguished.  Although  at  times  obscured  by  the 
moral  darkness  which  overshadowed  the  Christian  world,  it  con- 
tinued to  cheer  by  its  returning  rays,  the  hopes  of  those  whom  God 
in  every  age  reserved  to  himself,  and  who  never  bowed  the  knee 
to  the  im.age  of  Baal. 

Many  of  the  events  of  this  century  occupy  the  most  interesting, 
and  the  most  important  pages  in  the  history  of  ancient  Europe. — 
The  invasion  by  the  fierce  and  warlike  nations  of  the  North,  gave 
the  first  great  impulse  to  those  revolutions  in  the  political  and  civil 
institutions  of  the  Christian  states,  which,  in  a  few  successive  cen- 
turies after,  changed  the  whole  face  of  Europe  ;  and,  within  that 
time,  and  immediately  proceeding  out  of  those  convulsive  efforts, 
the  temporal  power  of  the  Pope  rose  to  its  height  and  was  firmly 
established. 

But  the  accession  of  Constantino  to  the  imperial  throne;  his  pro- 
tection of  the  Christians;  his  edict  of  religious  toleration,  and  his 
subsequent  conversion  to  Christianity,  arc  the  most  prominent  and 


84  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [4th  cenluiy 

remarkable  events  connected  with  the  progress  and  temporal  pros- 
perity of  the  Church.  Although  not  received  into  its  bosom, 
through  the  rites  of  baptism,  until  the  last  moments  of  his  life,  he 
directed  its  atfairs,  controlled  its  interests,  and  exercised  an  author- 
ity over  its  institutions  throughout  his  reign.  In  the  year  313,  lie 
published  his  edict,  securing  to  the  Christians  the  undisturbed  ex- 
ercise of  their  religion,  and  providing  for  the  full  restitution  for  the 
injuries  inflicted  upon  them  during  their  persecution  under  Diocle- 
tian. He  restored  their  lands  and  places  of  public  worship  which 
had  been  confiscated ;  and  in  the  year  324  established  the  Christian 
worship  throughout  the  empire. 

Throughout  this  century,  however,  the  Church  was  alternately 
favored  and  persecuted  by  the  dilferent  emperors  who  ascended  the 
throne.  But  in  the  reign  of  Theodosius  the  Great,  the  final  down- 
fall of  the  pagan  religion  was  accomplished.  The  division  of  the 
empire  into  East  and  West,  after  his  death,  was  attended  with  im- 
portant results  to  the  peace  and  internal  tranquillity  of  the  Church. 
.It  was  unavoidably  productive  of  contentions ;  and  finally,  of  an 
irreparable  separation  of  the  Eastern  and  Western,  or  the  Greek 
and  Latin  churches.  The  bishop  of  Rome,  whose  see  embraced, 
before  the  reign  of  Constantine,  the  capital  of  the  whole  empire, 
found  in  the  bishop  of  Constantinople,  after  that  city  became  the 
capital  of  the  eastern  division,  a  formidable  rival  in  his  schemes  of 
ambition.  The  prelate  of  this  church  was  elevated  to  a  rank,  second 
only  to  the  Romish  bishop,  by  the  councils  of  Constantinople  in 
381,  and  of  Clialcedon  in  451.  These  proceedings,  with  the  pre- 
tensions of  the  Greek  emperor,  Zeno,  in  the  year  482,  to  a  sover- 
eignty over  the  Church,  occasioned  a  schism  between  these  two 
great  branches  of  the  Cliristian  Chui-ch.  Although  a  partial  re- 
union was  eflected  in  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  century,  the  con- 
troversy which  arose  afterward,  on  tlie  worship  of  images,  pro- 
duced another  division  between  them,  which  was  widened  by  the 
obstinacy  and  aspiring  views  of  their  respective  prelates.  Finally, 
in  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  the  Latins  were  openly 
charged  with  heresy  by  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople;  denunci- 
ations and  excommunications  followed,  and  these  angry  disputations 
were  terminated  by  a  formal  and  perpetual  sej)aration.  In  the  fif- 
teentli  century,  the  invasion  of  the  Eastern  empire,  by  the  Turks, 
induced  the  reigning  sovereign,  John  VII.,  to  })ropose  to  the  West 
a  restoration  of  ecclesiastical  union;  but  the  opposition  of  his  cler- 
gy defeated  the  contemplated  annexation ;  and  the  subsequent  sub- 
jugation of  the  country  by  the  Mohammedans,  raised  an  insur- 
mountable barrier  to  all  future  plans  of  reconciliation.  So  much 
of  the  relative  history  of  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  I  have 
thought  i)roper  to  refer  to,  in  anticipation.  I  shall  now  resume  a 
narrative  of  the  events  of  the  fourth  century. 


4th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  85 

Constantine,  although  a  pagan  until  the  close  of  his  reign,  exer- 
cised an  entire  control  ov^er  the  institutions  of  the  Christian  Church. 
His  decision  of  the  Donatist  controversy,  as  an  ecclesiastical  ques- 
tion, is  conclusive  of  itself,  of  the  authority  wliich  he  claimed  and 
enforced  with  the  full  acquiescence  of  the  whole  body  of  the  cler- 
gy. The  councils  which  were  convened  to  deliberate  and  to  de- 
termine on  all  matters  involving  the  general  interests  of  the  Church, 
were  assemblies  altogether  governed  by  his  dictation,  and  subser- 
vient to  his  will.  A  spiritual  supreme  judge,  by  divine  appoint- 
ment, was  an  officer  not  known  in  this  century,  and  it  will  appear, 
in  the  progress  of  this  history,  that  the  ruling  powers  in  the  state 
exercised  an  unquestioned  jurisdiction  in  all  ecclesiastical  matters, 
for  many  centuries  after  this  period.  The  usurpations  of  the  see 
of  Rome,  although  continually  advancing,  were  not  finally  consum- 
mated until  the  thirteenth  century,  when  the  title  of  Pope,  or  uni- 
versal Father,  which  had  been  assumed  in  this,  by  Siricius,  bishop 
oi  Rome,  was  conceded  by  all  Christendom ;  and  "  the  popes  as- 
sumed the  authority  of  supreme  arbiters  in  all  controversies  that 
arose  concerning  religion  or  church  discipline;  and  maintained  the 
pretended  rights  of  the  church  against  the  encroachments  and  usur- 
pations of  kings  and  princes."  It  was  at  this  period  they  received 
the  pompous  tide  of  "  Masters  of  the  World." 

The  bishop  of  Rome,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth  century, 
was  the  bishop  of  a  province,  and  was  as  such,  a  Metropolitan;  as 
were  all  other  bishops  whose  dioceses  were  provincial.  But  the 
Church  of  Rome,  it  was  pretended,  was  founded  not  only  by  the 
great  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  but  by  Peter,  with  whom  the  keys 
of  heaven  had  been  intrusted  by  Christ.  Rome  itself  was  the  mis- 
tress of  the  world.  It  might  therefore  have  been  early  foreseen, 
from  these  political  and  ecclesiastical  influences  co-operating,  that 
hi  the  general  struggle  for  pre-eminence,  the  bishop  of  Rome,  with- 
out any  real  sanction  of  divine  right,  was  destined  in  the  course  of 
time  to  acquire  the  ascendency.  From  these  causes,  then,  we  shall 
perceive  the  continued  augmentation  of  power,  which  accompanied 
the  efforts  of  this  ambitious  prelate ;  and  it  is  from  this  period  we 
are  to  view  him  as  having  already  acquired  a  marked  and  undispu- 
ted pre-eminence  over  all  other  prelates. ^ 

The  election  of  a  bishop  was  an  act  of  the  clergy,  the  nobles, 
and  the  whole  body  of  the  people.  An  eminent  historian  of  this 
century,  describing  the  scenes  which  occurred  on  that  occasion, 
says:  "  An  incredible  multitude  not  only  from  that  city,  (Tours,) 
but  also  from  the  neighboring  cities,  convened  to  give  their  votes." 
(Sulp.  Severus.)  The  tumultuous  selection  would  sometimes  be  of 
a  venerable  presbyter,  a  devout  monk,  or  a  pious  layman.-     "  The 

'This  undisputed  pre-eminence  must  be  viewed  with  a  qualification,  as  regards  t)ie 
Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  and  the  clergy  of  the  Greek  Church. 
^Gibbon's  l^man  Empire. 


86  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [4th  century. 

interested  views;  the  selfish  and  angry  passions;  the  arts  of  per- 
fidy and  dissimulation ;  the  secret  corruption;  the  open  and  even 
bloody  violence  which  had  formerly  disgraced  the  freedom  of  elec- 
tion in  the  commonwealths  of  Greece  and  Rome,  too  often  influ- 
enced the  choice  of  the  successors  of  the  apostles."  In  the  year 
366,  the  election  of  a  Pontiff,  for  such  was  the  title  then  assumed 
by  the  bishop  of  Rome,  occasioned  a  civil  war  in  the  city,  "  which 
was  carried  on  with  the  utmost  barbarity  and  fury,  and  produced 
the  most  cruel  massacres  and  desolations."  Bribery  and  force  were 
the  instruments  of  success.  Two  competitors  for  the  office,  were 
elected  by  the  contending  parties;  and  the  tumults  and  disorders 
which  ensued  were  only  terminated  by  the  expulsion  from  the  city 
of  the  weaker  candidate.  Damascus  triumphed;  and  forcibly  seiz- 
ing upon  the  vacant  see,  excommunicated  his  rival,  Ursicinus,  and 
became  the  acknowledged  and  rightful  successor  of  St.  Peter. 

In  the  government  of  the  Church,  and  in  the  management,  gen- 
erally, of  ecclesiastical  affairs,  all  powers  gradually  concentrated 
in  the  episcopal  head.  The  people  were  first  excluded  from  a  par- 
ticipation in  the  administration,  and  afterward  the  presbyters  were 
compelled  to  relinquish  the  exercise  of  their  ancient  privileges. 
Thus  was  accomplished  a  further  departure  from  the  primitive 
forms  of  the  Church ;  and  the  rights  of  a  spiritual  obligarchy  were 
becoming  merged  in  an  absolute  despotism. 

Constantine  new-modelled  the  laws  and  the  forms  of  administra- 
tion in  the  government  of  the  empire;  and  by  his  authority  a  new 
order  was  established  in  the  clergy,  corresponding  with  the  new 
civil  oflace  instituted  by  him.  Hence  arose  the  novel  title  of  Patri- 
arch ;  and  this,  attached  to  the  several  Metropolitan  bishops  of 
Rome,  Antioch,  and  Alexandria,  and  some  time  after  to  the  bishop 
of  Constantinople,  elevated  these  prelates  to  a  rank  above  all  other 
provincial  bishops  in  the  Church.  The  exarch  was  at  the  same 
time  created,  subordinate  to  the  patriarch;  but  invested  with  a  ju- 
risdiction superior  to  the  Metropolitan.  But  it  should  be  here  re- 
marked, that  the  patriarch  of  Rome,  who  became  afterward  pon- 
tiff and  pope,  and  indeed  was  already  distinguished  by  those  titles, 
has  always  been  styled  bishop,  as  a  Scriptural  title  of  distinction, 
and  a  more  authoritative  expression  of  the  apostolic  character. 
The  several  orders  of  the  clergy,  from  the  patriarch  down,  were 
alike  subject  to  the  civil  laws  of  the  empire;  nor  did  they,  as  ec- 
clesiastics, claim  any  peculiar  exemptions  from  the  penalties  at- 
tached to  their  violation. 

These  several  orders,  as  established  under  the  authority  of  Con- 
stantine, were  the  first  and  highest  in  dignity,  prerogatives  and 
privileges,  the  patriarchs.  The  title  of  this  ecclesiastical  dignitary 
was  derived  from  certain  spiritual  superintendents,  to  whose  au- 
thority the  Jews,  after  their  dispersion,  submitted  ;  and  may,  per- 
haps, be  traced  from  a  still  higher  antiquity  in  the  history  of  that 


4th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  87 

people.  Their  powers  were  not  universally  the  same  in  the  Chris- 
tian Church ;  dittering  according  to  the  laws  or  customs  of  the  dif- 
ferent countries  in  which  tliey  existed.  The  patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople extended  his  jurisdiction  over  the  patriarchates  of  Ephesus 
and  Caesarea.  The  patriarch  of  Alexandria  had  the  right  of  con- 
secrating and  approving  of  all  the  bishops  wiihin  his  spiritual  su- 
pernitendency ;  which  all  had  not.  They  were  empowered  to 
assemble  the  clergy  under  their  respective  jurisdictions  to  attend 
to  the  interests  of  the  Church.  They  possessed  appellate  jurisdic- 
tion in  all  charges  alledged  against  the  bislwps ;  but  the  emperors, 
and  the  councils  interposed  their  powers  when  complaints  were 
carried  up  to  them  of  the  unjust  and  arbitrary  decisions  of  the  pa- 
triarchal court.  Innumerable  evils  arose  out  of  the  institution  of 
this  order.  They  encroached  upon  the  prerogatives  of  the  bish- 
ops ;  encouraged  dissentions  among  them ;  excited  disputes  and 
diiferences  among  the  clergy  generally  ;  subsidized  the  monks  to 
create  prejudices  in  the  minds  of  the  people  against  the  bishops': 
and  thus,  by  their  insidious  machinations,  they  not  only  assisted  in 
destroying  the  discipline  and  corrupting  the  purity  of  the  Church, 
but  they  enlarged  tlieir  own  powers,  and  acquired  a  fatal  ascend- 
ency over  the  clergy  and  the  people.  Added  to  these,  there  was 
a  continued  struggle  among  themselves  for  supremacy  and  rank. 
This  will  be  shown  in  the  progress  of  their  history. 

This  contest  for  power  contributed  to  the  elevation  of  the  Ro- 
man patriarch.  Those  of  Antioch  and  Alexandria,  unable  to  resist 
the  encroachments  of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  were  com- 
pelled to  throw  themselves  upon  the  protection  of  that  prelate ; 
and  thus  he  became  their  protector,  and  in  time,  the  supreme  arbi- 
ter in  all  controversies  of  an  ecclesiastical  nature. 

The  next  in  order  were  tlie  exarchs.  This  was  a  civil,  as  well 
as  an  ecclesiastical  title.  The  latter  seems  to  have  been  derived 
from  the  former.  This  was  the  title  attached  to  the  viceroys  of  the 
Eastern  emperors.  As  a  matter  of  history,  it  may  be  here  stated, 
that  the  viceroy  or  exarch  of  the  provinces  in  Italy,  selected  Ra- 
venna as  the  seat  of  his  government;  and  the  connection  of  this, 
witli  the  liistory  of  the  pope's  accession  of  temporal  power,  will 
appear  in  the  narration  of  the  events  of  the  eighth  century.  .The 
exarch  in  the  Church  had  an  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction  over  several 
provinces ;  and  his  powers  appear  to  have  been  of  a  supervisory 
character.  He  seems  to  have  performed  the  duties  of  a  "  custos  et 
conservator  ecclesicc  ;'''*  taking  cognizance  of  the  morals  of  the  cler- 
gy ;  of  the  observance  of  the  canons  of  the  Church;  the  manner 
of  celebrating  divine  service,  &:c.  The  civil  exarchs  were  also 
called  patricians. 

The  third  in  order  were  the  Metropolitans;  under  whom  were 
the  arch-bishops,  who  were  limited  in  their  jurisdiction  to  certain 
districts  of  country ;  and  the  lowest  in  the  ecclesiastical  orders  of 


88  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [4th  ceiitury. 

the  episcopacy,  were  the  bishops.  Such  was  the  orgamzation  of 
the  Clmrch  by  the  dictation  of  Constantine ;  an  organization  utter- 
ly subversive  of  the  system  of  government  adopted  by  the  apostles. 
Hitherto,  the  title  of  bishop  sanctioned  by  the  inspired  writers, 
had  been  retained  as  expressive  of  the  highest  trust  reposed  in  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel,  although  attached  in  the  preceding  century 
to  a  dignitary  unknown  in  the  apostolic  church.  The  whole  Scrip- 
tural system  was  now  radically  changed ;  and  new  titles  derived 
from  the  civil  institutions  of  the  empire,  were  attached  to  ecclesi- 
astical othces,  invested  with  extraordinary  privileges  and  powers. 
This  revolution  left  few  vestiges  of  the  ancient  structure.  Those 
who  assumed  to  be  the  pastors  of  the  flock  of  God,  had  now  be- 
come, for  filthy  lucre,  lords  over  God's  heritage. 

The  Metropolitan  was  no  longer  the  representative  of  the  Jew- 
ish high-priest.  The  patriarch  of  Rome  united  in  himself,  the 
priesthood  of  the  Jewish,  and  the  pontificate  of  the  Pagan  temples. 
The  highest  sacerdotal  title  in  the  ancient  forms  of  divine  worship, 
as  well  as,  that  in  the  administration  of  the  heathen  ceremonies  and 
rites  of  the  Romans,  the  priest  and  the  pontiff,  distinguished  above 
all  the  dignitaries  of  the  Christian  Church,  the  bishop  of  Rome. — 
The  successor  of  "  the  Apostles"  claimed  also,  the  peculiar  emi- 
nence of  a  succession  in  the  order  of  the  "  Maximi  Pontifices." 
This  order,  instituted  by  Numa,  preserved  a  regular  succession  to 
the  reign  of  the  emperor  Gratian.  The  Caesars  were  proud  of 
the  distinction.  Augustus  assumed  the  office  as  one  of  dignity  and 
power.  The  successive  occupants  of  the  imperial  tli rone,' retained 
it  as  a  prerogative  of  the  crown ;  but  the  piety  of  Gratian  rejected 
the  pontifical  robe,  as  the  vesture  of  pagan  superstition ;  and  the 
patriarch  of  the  Christian  Church  assumed  it  as  the  appropriate 
habiliment  of  his  priestly  office. 

Neither  the  Metropolitans  nor  bishops  acknowledged  the  patri- 
arch as  the  source  of  their  spiritual  poweis;  nor  did  they  admit 
that  their  tenure  of  office  depended  upon  his  will.  They  were 
elected  by  the  clergy  and  the  people;  and  after  investiture,  dis- 
charged their  several  duties  as  under  a  divine  authority,  indepen- 
dent of  the  Roman  see. 

The  indecisive  course  pursued  by  Constantino,  and  his  succes- 
sors, who  professed  the  Christian  faith,  in  their  toleration  of  reli- 
gion, tended  to  the  corruption  of  the  Christian  Church.  The  abom- 
inable acts  of  pagan  idolatry  were  suppressed  by  Constantine,  but 
his  early  prejudices  restrained  him  from  j)rohibiting  their  supersti- 
tious rites;  and  this  equal  patronage  extended  to  Christianity  and 
to  Paganism,  occasioned  an  admixture  of  their  forms  of  worship, 
which  fatally  corrupted  the  former.  Of  his  son  Constantius  it  was 
said,  that  "although  he  had  embraced  a  ditferent  religion,  he  never 
attempted  to  deprive  the  empire  of  the  sacred  worship  of  antiqui- 
ty ;"  and  Dr.  Moshcim  remarks,  that  "  The  rites  and  institutions 


4th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  89 

by  which  the  Greeks,  Romans,  and  other  nations,  had  formerly 
testified  their  relii^ious  veneration  for  fictitious  deities,  were  now 
adopted,  with  some  shght  alterations,  by  Christian  bishops,  and 
employed  in  the  service  of  the  true  God." 

In  tlieir  external  forms  of  worship  there  were  but  perceptible 
shades  of  diflerence.  The  toga  praetexta  of  the  Pontifex  Maxi- 
mus,  was  imitated  in  the  surplice  worn  by  the  bishop  in  his  minis- 
trations ;  the  lituus,  or  crooked  staff,  borne  by  the  Augurs  in  their 
divinations,  furnished  the  pattern  of  the  crosier ;  the  ceremony  of 
processions,  which  are  in  the  present  day  so  frequent  in  the  Popish 
Cliurch,  originated  in  this  century,  and  was  copied  from  the  cus- 
tom among  the  ancient  Romans  of  proceeding  to  their  temples  with 
solemnity,  to  offer  up  prayers  or  supplications  to  their  gods,  in  hon- 
or of  particular  deities,  for  thanksgiving,  or  for  averting  calami- 
ties; the  celebration  of  the  Lupercalia,  agreeably  to  the  ancient 
rites,  introduced  at  this  time,  but  substituted  in  the  following  cen- 
tury by  the  festival  of  the  purification  of  the  blessed  Virgin;  the 
images,  the  costly  vessels,  and  the  whole  pageantry  of  their  reli- 
gious ceremonies,  point  to  the  features  of  resemblance  between  the 
two  religions.  In  the  administration  of  the  sacrament,  tl)e  bread 
and  wine  were  held  up  to  the  view  of  the  communicants ;  and  from 
this  simple  act,  was  introduced  the  imposing  ceremony  of  the  ele- 
vation of  the  Host.'  A  new  impulse  seems  to  have  been  given  in 
this  age  to  superstitious  observances.  A  religious  veneration  for 
departed  saints,  matured  into  religious  worship.  The  virtue  of 
consecrated  water  obtained  universal  belief  among  the  ignorant. 
Miraculous  powers  were  attributed  to  sacred  relics.  The  Pagan 
rites  for  appeasing  the  anger  of  their  gods,  were  introduced  into 
the  Christian  Church,  with  new  and  imposing  solemnities.  In  short, 
the  artful  devices  of  the  clergy  sunk  the  Christian  world  into  the 
depths  of  corruption  and  vice ;  whilst  every  downward  step  left 
the  aspiring  hierarchy  in  possession  of  increased  powers,  and  open- 
ed a  wider  field  to  the  ambition  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  whose  usur- 
pations were  continually  extending  his  prerogatives. 

The  Donatists  were  a  formidable  body  of  schismatics,  but  their 
influence  was  not  felt  beyond  the  limits  of  the  African  cliurches. 

The  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  became  a  fruitful  source  of  contro- 
versy in  the  early  part  of  this  century,  through  the  zeal  and  the 
eloquence  of  Arius,  a  presbyter  of  Alexandria ;  who  maintained, 
that  the  Son  was  in  his  essence,  distinct  from  the  Father;  that  he 
was  the  first  and  the  noblest  creature  of  God^s  workmanship ;  that 
he  was  the   instrument  by  whose  subordinate  operation,  the  Al- 

'Lord  Bolingbrokc,  bcinrr  present  at  the  elevation  of  the  Ijost  in  tlio  cathedral  at 
Paris,  expressed  to  a  nolilcmaii  who  stood  near  liini,  liis  surprise  tliat  the  king  of 
France  should  commit  tlic  performance  of  Buch  an  august  and  strikiiinr  ceremony  to 
any  subject.  (Moshcim.)  Tlio  practice  was,  some  time  after  this  century,  intro- 
duced, of  carrying  the  consecrated  elements,  in  u  cibory  or  covered  chalico,  tlirough 
the  streets  of  a  city,  as  an  object  of  vvorsiiip. 


90  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [4th  century, 

mighty  created  the  universe ;  that  he  was  consequently,  inferior  to 
the  Father ;  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  created  by  the  Son.  This 
was  the  doctrine  of  the  homoiousion,  which  denied  the  consub- 
stantiality  of  the  Father  and  the  Son. 

His  followers  were  divided  into  numerous  sects.  They  dilfered 
from  the  Gnostics,  who  believed  Christ  to  have  been  an  emanation 
from  the  Supreme  Being ;  but  not  a  co- worker  in  the  creation  of 
the  world ;  and  that  he  was  sent  to  rescue  man  from  the  evils  in- 
flicted upon  him  by  the  Demiurgus  or  Creator. 

Arius  advanced  his  opinions  in  a  controversy  with  his  bishop, 
Alexander,  in  the  year  316;  and  as  irrational  and  unscriptural  as 
they  are,  by  his  learning,  sophistry,  and  eloquence,  he  seduced  over 
to  his  side,  many  of  the  most  distinguished  theological  scholars  of 
the  age ;  among  whom  was  the  ecclesiastical  historian,  Eusebius. 
Eudoxius,  patriarch  of  Antioch,  and  of  Constantinople ;  Acacius, 
bishop  of  Caesarea  ;  Aetius,  bishop  of  Antioch;  Eunomius,  who 
was  eminent  for  his  literary  acquirements,  severally  became  the 
leaders  of  dillerent  sects  who  adopted  the  Arian  creed.  Constan- 
tine  countenanced,  if  he  did  not  assent  to  the  doctrine.  His  son 
and  successor,  Constantius,  not  only  defended  the  disciples  of  Ari- 
us, but  persecuted  their  opponents.  Valens  supported  their  cause; 
and  is  charged  with  the  burning  of  eighty  ecclesiastics  who  were 
Athanasians. 

The  great  antagonist  of  Arius,  was  Athanasius,  bishop  of  Alex- 
andria. His  doctrine  maintained,  ''-one  God  in  Trinity,  and  Trin- 
ity in  Unity."  He  affirmed,  that  "there  is  one  person  of  the  Fa- 
ther, another  of  the  Son,  and  another  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;"  that 
"the  Godhead  of  the  Father,  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
is  all  one — the  glory  equal,  the  majesty  co-eternal."  In  his  system 
he  supports  the  doctrine  of  Christ's  human  and  divine  natures,  as 
united  in  one  person.  Athanasius  maintained,  therefore,  the  doc- 
trine of  the  homoousion,  or  the  consubstantiality  of  the  Father  and 
the  Son. 

The  first  general  or  ecumenical  council  of  the  Church,  was  con- 
vened by  tlie  order  of  Constantine,  at  Nice,  in  Bithynia,  in  the  year 
325,  with  a  view  of  composing  the  dillcrences  ^vhich  disturbed 
the  Christian  Church.  The  Novatian  bishop,  Acesius,^  was  invited 
by  the  emperor  to  take  a  seat  in  the  council. 

Tlie  Arian  controversy  was  the  important  subject  submitted  to 
the  council ;  and  after  long  and  animated  discussions,  the  doctrine 
of  Athanasius  was  declared  to  be  orthodox  and  sound  in  faith,  and 
Arius  was  condemned.  The  Nicene  creed  declared,  that  "  the  Son 
was  begotten  of  his  Father  before  all  worlds;  God  of  God,  light 
of  light,  very  God  of  very  God,  begotten,  not  made,  of  one  sub- 
stance with  the  Father,  by  whom  all  things  were  made,"  &c. 

'The  Novatian  bishops  enjoyed  no  higlier  privileges  and  distinctions  than  tlio  an- 
gels, ejiiscojKil  presbyters,  or  bishops  of  iho  early  part  of  the  second  century. 


4th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  91 

In  the  preceding-  century,  the  council  which  convened  at  Antioch 
in  the  year  269,  decided  that  "  the  Son  is  not  of  the  same  essence 
with  the  Father."  The  assembled  fathers  at  Nice,  by  their  judg- 
ment against  Arius,  now  pronounced  that  decision  heretical,  and 
deserving  the  severe  anathemas  of  the  Church ;  for  they  declared, 
that  "  all  who  do  not  keep  undefiled  and  holy,  the  faith,  shall  with- 
out doubt,  perish  everlastingly ;"  which  faith  they  aflirmed  to  be 
expressed  and  explained  in  the  decree  of  the  council ;  and  Arius, 
by  their  sentence  was  excommunicated  as  a  heretic,  and  banished. 

In  the  year  330  he  was  recalled  by  Constantine ;  who  also  re- 
pealed the  laws  which  had  condemned  him,  and  by  another  council 
convened  at  Tyre,  he  was  restored  to  the  privileges  of  the  Church ; 
whilst  Athanasius  was  in  turn  deposed  and  banished.  "  Hence 
arose,  says  Mosheim,  endless  animosities  and  seditions ;  treacher- 
ous plots,  and  open  acts  of  injustice  and  violence  between  the  par- 
ties. Council  was  assembled  against  council,  and  their  jarring  and 
contradictory  decrees  spread  perplexity  and  confusion  throughout 
the  Christian  w^orld."  In  the  year  360,  the  council  consisting  of 
four  hundred  bishops,  of  Italy,  Africa,  Spain,  Gaul,  Britain,  and 
lllyricum,  which  convened  at  Rimini,  in  Italy,  reversed  the  Nicene 
decree,  and  re-affirmed  the  homoiousian  doctrine  of  the  council  of 
Antioch.i  During  the  reign  of  Conslantius,  a  large  portion  of  the 
Western  Church,  with  Liberius,  the  patriarch  of  Rome,  became 
proselytes  to  the  Arian  faith.  When  Jovian  ascended  tlic  throne, 
the  Homoousians  triumphed,  and  the  doctrines  of  Athanasius  were 
pronounced  the  orthodox  doctrines  of  the  church.  Under  the  em- 
peror Valens,  the  Arians  obtained  again  the  ascendency ;  but  when 
Theodosius  assumed  the  reins  of  government,  the  Nicene  creed 
became  the  standard  of  the  orthodox  faith.  Such  were  the  fre- 
quent changes  in  the  course  of  this  century,  of  the  fundamental 
doctrines  of  Christianity ;  and  in  this  century  flourished  some  of 
the  brightest  luminaries  of  the  Church :  such  as,  Eusebius,  Athan- 
asius, Basil,  Cyril,  Chrysostom,  the  two  Gregories  of  the  Greek 
Church,  and  Hilary,  Lactantius,  Jerome,  and  Augustin  of  the 
Latin. 

The  second  general  or  ecumenical  council  assembled  by  Theo- 
dosius, in  the  year  381,  confirmed  the  Nicene  creed,  and  settled  in 
a  more  definite  manner,  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.  In  this  coun- 
cil, which  convened  at  Constantinople,  the  patriarch  of  that  city 
was  elevated  to  a  rank  next  to  the  patriarch  of  Rome.  This  exci- 
ted the  jealousy  of  that  pontiff,  and  the  anger  of  the  patriarchs  of 
Antioch  and  of  Alexandria.  In  the  sixth  canon  of  this  council,  the 
trial  of  all  bishops  accused  is  committed  to  provincial  diocesan 
synods.  This  was  oflensive  also  to  the  Roman  prelate,  wlio  had 
advanced  pretensions  to  a  right  of  jurisdiction  in  their  trial  and  de- 
position. 

'  "  Tlie  whole  world  grieved,"  said  .Icromo,  "  and  was  surprised  to  find  itself  Ari- 
an."   The  Latin  bishops  professed  to  havo  been  deceived. 


92  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [4th  century. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORiMATION. 

The  Council  of  Nice  had  quieted  the  controversy  which  dis- 
turbed the  peace  of  the  Church,  on  the  re-admission  into  Cliristian 
communion  of  those  who  had  lapsed  from  the  faith.  This  ques- 
tion had  been  one  of  angry  disputation  between  the  Papal  and  No- 
vatian  churches.  The  Athanasian  doctrines  which  formed  the 
creed  of  the  Novatians,  were  adopted  as  the  rule  of  orthodox  faith ; 
and  the  Novatian  Church  was  represented  in  that  council  in  the 
person  of  its  bishop.'  These  circumstances  had  produced  a  toler- 
ation of  religious  differences  on  the  one  part,  and  imagined  securi- 
ty in  the  enjoyment  of  their  rites  and  forms  of  worship  on  the  oth- 
er. But  the  Christian  world  was  still  divided  on  the  question  of 
the  Trinity;  and  the  persecution  of  the  weaker  party,  as  each 
would  alternately  prevail,  was  carried  on  with  unabated  violence 
and  animosity.  The  severity  of  this  persecution  was  felt  in  a  pe- 
culiar degree  by  the  Novatians  in  the  East,  They  extended,  at 
this  period,  over  the  populous  provinces  of  Asia-Minor. 

In  the  reign  of  Constantius,  the  district  of  country  between  the 
provinces  of  Bithynia  and  Cappadocia,  became  the  seat  of  a  relent- 
less and  cruel  war,  carried  on  by  the  strong-arm  of  the  government ; 
and  which  terminated  only  with  their  utter  defeat  and  dispersion. 
The  execution  of  this  purpose  was  intrusted  by  the  emperor  to 
the  Arian  bishop,  Macedonius,  In  the  first  encounter,  the  Roman 
legions  were  defeated.  The  zeal  and  courage  of  the  Novatians, 
armed  with  their  implements  of  husbandry,  triumphed  over  the 
numbers  and  the  discipline  of  the  imperial  forces  ;  and  in  one  en- 
gagement they  obtained  a  victory  over  their  enemies,  by  the  slaught- 
er of  four  thousand  soldiers  on  the  field  of  battle.  But  overcome 
at  length,  by  an  irresistible  strength,  and  the  persevering  spirit  of 
Macedonius,  they  were  given  up  to  the  sword  of  their  merciless 
invaders.  They  were  pursued,  and  massacred.  Those  who  es- 
caped the  sword  fled  into  distant  provinces.  Such  was  the  issue 
of  this  unequal  conflict.  But  the  survivors,  still  maintaining  the 
doctrines,  diffused  their  tenets  over  the  more  northern  and  inacces- 
sible regions  of  tlie  empire;  preserved  the  purity  of  their  faith 
and  their  forms  of  worship,  and  in  the  beginning  of  the  seventh 
century,  re-a])pearcd  in  the  religious  world;  having  retained  their 
aversion  to  the  superstitious  rites  and  the  idolatry  of  the  Greek  and 
Latin  churches,  but  lost  tlie  distinctive  name  of  their  ancient  found- 
er. As  Novatians,  they  are  traced  in  history  to  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century,  with  flourisliing  churches  beyond  the  Volga.  They 
re-appcar  as  Paulicians. 

In  the  middle  of  this  century,  Aerius,  a  preshyter  of  Schastia, 
in  Pontus,  endeavored  to  restore  the  Church  to  its  primitive  forms. 

'This  privilege  was  conceded  to  the  Novatians  through  the  influence  of  Constan- 
tine. 


4th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  93 

He  opposed  the  whole  system  of  episcopacy  as  then  established  ; 
maintainina,-,  that  it  was  a  subversion  of  the  simple  plan  of  govern- 
ment instituted  by  the  apostles;  as  the  office  of  bishop  was  not  dis- 
tinct fiom  tliat  of  presbyter  agreeably  to  Scripture.  "  For  this 
opinion  chiefly,  he  is  ranked  anions^  the  heretics,  by  Epiphanius, 
his  cotemporary,  wiio  calls  it  a  notion  full  of  folly  and  madness:" 
and  for  this  eflbrt  to  reform  the  abuses  in  the  government  and  rites 
of  the  Church,  his  followers  were  expelled  from  the  cities,  and  ob- 
liged to  conduct  their  public  worship  in  places  of  secret  retire- 
ment. Notwithstanding  this  sentence  of  condemnation  against  Aeri- 
us  and  his  Ibllowers,  it  is  recorded  in  history  with  undoubted  au- 
thority, that  many  orthodox  writers  of  the  age,  whose  opinions 
were  so  regarded  by  the  Church,  believed  that  the  dill'erence  be- 
tween those  two  offices  was  not  founded  on  divine  precept;  but 
was  one  of  human  contrivance,  and  simply  of  ecclesiastical  right. 
Bellarmine,  who  was  an  oracle  of  the  Papal  Church  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  testifies,  that  "Jerome  was,  in  this  point,  of  Aerius'  opin- 
ion; and  that  not  only  he,  but  also  Ambrose,  Augustine,  Sedulus, 
Primasius,  Chrysostom,  Theodoiet,  Oecumenius,  and  Theophylact, 
all  maintained  the  same  heresy."^  When  in  the  Council  of  Trent, 
A.  D.  1550,  Medina  maintained  the  rightful  superiority  of  a  bishop 
over  a  presbyter,  and  these  authorities  were  adduced  against 
him,  he  replied,  "  That  it  is  no  marvel  that  they,  and  some  others 
also,  of  the  fathers,  fell  into  this  heresy ;  this  point  being  not  then 
clearly  determined."  Aerius  is  considered  as  the  father  of  the 
modern  Presbyterians.  "  How  far,"  says  Mosheim,  "  he  pursued 
his  opinions  on  this  subject,  through  its  natural  consequences,  is  not 
certainly  known;  but  we  know,  with  the  utmost  certainty,  that  it 
was  highly  agreeable  to  many  good  Christians,  who  were  no  long- 
er able  to  bear  the  tyranny  and  arrogance  of  the  bishops  of  this 
century." 

But  this  Avas  not  the  only  measure  of  reform  advanced  by  Aerius. 
He  condemned  the  practice  of  offering  up  prayers  for  the  dead  ; 
rejected  many  other  rites  of  the  Churcti  as  founded  on  superstition  ; 
and  opposed  the  observance  of  stated  fasts,  and  the  celebration  of 
the  festival  of  Easter. 

These  reformers  of  the  fourth  century,  appeared  first  along  the 
coast  of  the  Euxine;  extended  southwardly  to  the  Mediterranean, 
and  eastwardly  to  the  banks  of  the  Araxcs,  in  the  province  of  Ar- 
menia. Whether  they  maintained  any  Christian  communion  with 
the  churches  of  the  Novatians,  who  at  the  same  period  had  flour- 
ishing settlements  in  that  portion  of  Asia-Minor,  is  not  known. — 
Whether  the  bishops,  who  had  the  oversight  of  tiie  Novatian 
churches,  in  this  century,  were  simply  episcopal  presbyters,  as  in- 
stituted by  their  founder  in  the  last  century,  has  been  a  question  in 
controversy.     They  may,  in  the  progress  of  time,  have  increased 

'Daille,  on  the  Fathers. 


94  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [4th  ccntury. 

their  powers,  and  extended  their  jurisdiction  beyond  those  original- 
ly attached  to  their  office.  That  they  liad  fallen  into  this  manifest 
corruption,  is  not  conclusively  inferable,  however,  from  the  title  of 
bishop,  as  this  was  a  distinguishing  appellation  of  the  teaching  and 
ruling  elder  of  the  Apostolic  Church.  Neither  is  it  inferable  from 
the  circumstance  of  Acesius  having  been  received  into  the  council 
at  Nice;  Athanasius,  himself,  being  (at  the  time,)  a  deacon  only  of 
the  Church  of  Alexandria,  and  a  distinguished  member  of  that  as- 
sembly. 

The  Novatian  and  Aerian  churches  were  unquestionably  Chris- 
tian churches ;  strictly  modelled  agreeably  to  the  forms  establish- 
ed by  the  apostles;  orthodox  in  their  faith;  and  free  from  those 
deformities  and  corrupt  innovations,  which  disfigured  the  Romish 
Church,  and  debased  its  religion  into  a  system  of  refined  Pagan- 
ism. 

From  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  we  trace  "  the  Church  of 
Christ"  as  truly  existing  separate  and  distinct  from  that  ecclesiasti- 
cal polity  ;  purified  from  the  contamniations  of  Pagan  superstition, 
and  restored  to  its  original  simplicity  in  government  and  worship; 
and  preserved  through  subsequent  ages,  by  those  witnesses  of  the 
truth,  whom  God  in  his  providence  and  grace,  successively  raised 
up  in  testimony  of  his  faithfulness.  When  the  prophet  of  the  Lord 
complained,  that  his  prophets  were  killed,  and  his  altars  destroyed, 
and  that  he  was  left  alone;  God  assured  him,  that  he  had  reserved 
to  himself  seven  thousand  men,  who  had  not  bowed  the  knee  to  the 
Image  of  Baal. 

This  century  is  the  epoch  of  the  conquest  of  the  Western  Em- 
pire, and  its  complete  subjugation  by  the  Goths,  and  the  savage, 
but  warlike  tribes  which  issued  out  of  Germany.  In  the  year  476, 
the  ''  kingdom  of  Italy"  was  founded  by  the  Heruli,  from  the  wild 
regions  of  Scandinavia,  under  their  leader,  Odoacer.  In  493  the 
Ostrogoths  invaded  Italy,  and  Theodoric,  their  king,  established  in 
his  own  person,  a  new  dynasty  on  the  throne.  These,  in  the  fol- 
lowing ccntury,  were  conquered  by  the  Lombards. 

Some  of  the  German  tribes  had  embraced  Christianity  before 
their  hostile  incursions;  but  a  greater  part  of  them  w^erc  convert- 
ed not  long  after  their  settlement  in  Italy.  The  Burgundians  on 
the  Rhine ;  the  Vandals,  who  first  assaulted  and  took  Rome,  in  the 
year  455,  and  afterward  extended  their  conquests  and  their  posses- 
sions in  Africa,  from  Carthage  to  ti)e  Pillars  of  Hercules,  and 
eventually  occupied  the  southern  borders  of  Spain;  the  Suevi,  in 
the  north-western  portion  of  Spain;  and  the  Gotlis,  who  first  over- 
ran Greece  and  the  Peloponnesus,  and  afterward  a  part  of  Italy 
and  Gaul,  adopted  after  their  conversion  to  Christianity,  the  doc- 
trines of  the  Arians. 

Amid  these  intestine  commotions  and  revolutions  of  empire  and 
kingdoms,  the  cause  of  Christianity  necessarily  suffered.     The 


5th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  95 

Western  churches  relapsed  still  further  into  the  rites  of  Pagan  idol- 
atry. The  very  calamities  which  befell  Europe  were  imputed  to 
the  desertion  of  the  heathen  gods,  by  those  who  were  inimical  to 
the  Christian  religion;  and  strong  ellorts  were  made  to  overthrow 
it,  and  to  substitute  the  polytheistic  \vorship  of  the  ancient  Greeks 
and  Romans.  The  mild  government  of  tl\e  successors  of  the  rude 
and  uncivilized  invaders,  tended  however,  to  meliorate  the  condi- 
tion of  the  people;  and  comparisons  have  been  drawn  by  histori- 
ans, between  the  manners  of  the  Goths  and  the  Romans,  highly 
creditable  to  the  former.  The  administration,  particularly  of  Tlie- 
odoric,  has  been  eulogised  for  the  equity  of  its  laws,  and  the  equal 
justice  with  which  they  were  enforced.  After  the  first  shock  of 
these  political  changes,  the  influence  of  the  Church  was  accelera- 
ted ;  and  whilst  it  continued  to  extend  its  power  and  obtain  strong- 
er control  over  the  public  mind,  it  hastened  its  own  downward  ten- 
dency to  corruption  and  vice. 

The  elevation  of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  to  the  second 
rank  in  the  Christian  world,  was  but  calculated  to  excite  the  am- 
bition and  to  encourage  the  aspirations  after  power,  of  that  formid- 
able rival  of  the  Roman  pontitf.  These  pretensions  were  still  fur- 
ther strengthened  by  a  decree  of  the  fourth  ecumenical  council 
convened  at  Chalcedon,  in  the  year  451,  which  accorded  to  that 
prelate,  the  same  rights  and  honors  which  had  been  conceded  to  the 
Roman  see;  and  which  confirmed  his  jurisdiction,  recently  assumed 
by  him,  over  Asia,  Thrace  and  Pontus.  These  measures  were 
strenuously  resisted  by  Leo,  surnamed  the  Great,  who  then  occu- 
pied the  papal  throne.  This  elevation  of  the  patriarch  of  Constan- 
tinople, which  raised  him  to  an  eminence  equal  to  that  of  the  head 
of  the  Latin  Church,  led  to  unremitted  struggles  for  supremacy  be- 
tween them. 

The  influence  which  the  Eastern  patriarch  had  acquired  by  the 
decree  of  the  council  at  Constantinople,  in  381,  was  opposed  by 
the  papal  court  at  Rome;  and  to  counteract  it,  tlie  most  fraudulent 
devises  were  resorted  to.  The  maxim,  long  before  this  period  in- 
troduced into  the  moral  code  of  the  Romish  church,  that  "it  is  an 
act  of  virtue  to  deceive  and  lie,  when  by  that  means  the  interest  of 
the  Church  might  be  promoted,"  became  a  ruling  principle,  and  was 
practically  carried  out  in  this  contest  for  spiritual  power.  In  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  Zosimus  the  pope,  forged  certain  can- 
ons, which  he  averred  had  been  decreed  by  the  council  of  Nice, 
in  325,  and  imposed  them  upon  the  councils  in  Africa,  as  authentic 
documents.!  These  fictitious  canons  acknowledged  the  bishop  of 
Rome,  as  "the  universal  bishop  and  head  of  the  whole  Christian 
Church."  These  pretended  decrees  liave  never  appeared  in  any 
of  the  genuine  copies  of  the  canons  of  that  council ;  and  although 

'Daille,  on  the  right  use  of  the  Fathers. 


96  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [5th  century. 

diligent  search  was  made  in  the  archives  of  the  several  churches  of 
Constantinople,  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  at  the  time,  nothing  was 
discovered  which  could  give  to  the  falsehood  of  Zosimus,  a  sem- 
blance of  veracity.  They  were  pronounced  to  be  artful  forgeries, 
and  were  disregarded  by  all  the  Churches  except  those  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Romish  see.  His  successor,  Boniface  I.,  with 
equal  effrontery,  advanced  his  pretensions  Lo  supremacy  upon  the 
authority  of  those  condemned  documents. 

Notwithstanding  the  detection  and  exposure  of  this  fraudulent 
attempt;  not  many  years  after,  Leo,  in  his  letter  to  the  emperor 
Theodosius,  claimed  upon  this  autliority  the  power  of  judging  of 
all  points  of  faith,  and  of  the  prelates  of  the  Church.  In  the  coun- 
cil of  Chalcedon,  in  the  year  451,  in  which  were  convened  six 
hundred  bishops,  "  the  very  flower  and  choice  of  the  whole  clergy," 
the  legates  of  pope  Leo,  w'ere  bold  enough  to  assert,  that  the  sixth 
canon  of  the  council  of  Nice,  declared  that  "  The  Church  of 
Rome  has  always  had  the  primacy."  "  Words,"  says  a  distin- 
guished writer,'  "  which  are  no  more  found  in  any  Greek  copies 
of  the  councils,  than  are  those  other  pretended  canons  of  pope 
Zosimus;  neither  do  they  appear  in  any  Greek  or  Latin  copies, 
nor  so  mucii  as  in  the  edition  of  Dlonysius  Exiguus,  who  lived 
about  fifty  years  after  this  council." 

Modern  papists  have  endeavored  to  rescue  from  reproach  the 
characters  of  those  fraudulent  pontilfs,  by  the  suggestion  that  they 
innocently  confounded  the  canons  of  the  council  of  Sardica  with 
those  of  Nice.  The  council  of  Nice,  convened  in  the  year  325, 
by  the  authority  of  theemper  or  Constantine,  to  determine  the  Arian 
controversy.  This  city  was  in  Bithynia,  a  province  of  Asia  Minor. 
The  council  of  Sardica  assembled,  in  the  reign  of  Constans,  in  the 
year  347,  to  decide  a  controversy  on  the  conflicting  claims  to  the 
episcopal  chair  of  two  rival  aspirants.  This  was  a  city  of  Illyri- 
cum,  a  province  on  the  nortli-castern  borders  of  the  Adriatic.  Tliis 
was  not  a  general  council,  and  although  it  has  been  appealed  to,  as 
unquestionable  authority,  by  the  advocates  of  papacy,  its  canons 
have  never  been  received  by  the  churches  as  ecumenical.  Their 
dehates  were  but  hostile  altercations  between  the  eastern  and  wes- 
tern bishops;  and  the  former,  from  an  apprehension  of  danger, 
withdrew  from  the  assembly.  From  that  ])eriod  has  been  dated  the 
disagreement  between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches.  This  coun- 
cil prohibited  the  election  of  a  successor  to  a  deposed  bishop,  until 
the  Roman  pontiff"  had  decided  on  the  merits  of  his  appeal. 

The  jealousy  and  rivalship  between  the  two  primates  were,  soon 
after  the  council  of  Chalcedon,  cxliibited  in  a  spiritual  Avarfare  be- 
tween them,  of  a  most  bitter  and  vindictive  character.  Felix  II., 
bisiiop  of  Rome,  anathematized  and  excommunicated  Acaeius,  the 
bishop  of  Constantinople,  as  a  perhdious  enemy  of  the  truth.    Aca- 

'Daille,  on  the  Fathers. 


5th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  97 

cius  received  with  contempt  this  sentence  issued  from  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter,  and  in  turn  anathematized  and  excommunicated  the  Ro- 
man pontiff,  and  ordered  his  name  to  be  struck  out  of  the  sacred 
register  of  bishops.  "This  sentence  of  Acacius  was  confirmed  by 
the  emperor,  by  the  church  of  Constantinople,  by  almost  all  the 
Eastern  bishops,  and  even  by  Andreas,  of  Thessalonica,  the  pope's 
vicar  for  East  Illyricum."  In  retaliation,  the  Western  churches 
erased  also  the  name  of  Acacius,  from  the  diptychs.  Such  was  the 
contest  carried  on  between  the  spiritual  heads  of  the  Church. 

In  the  mean  time  religion  itself  continued  to  decline  in  spiritual- 
ity. All  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Chui'ch  were  modeled  to 
captivate  the  admiring  multitude.  Costly  edifices  were  erected; 
resembling  in  their  style  and  decorations  the  temples  of  the  gods. 
The  vestments  of  the  officiating  priests  were  resplendent  with  rich 
ornaments.  Images  of  the  saints  and  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  crowded 
the  sanctuaries  of  worship.  Altars  of  solid  silver  were  erected, 
and  chests  of  the  same  precious  metal  were  provided,  for  deposi- 
tories of  the  bones  of  martyrs.  The  most  demoralizing  innovation 
made  in  the  established  customs  of  the  Church,  was  the  substitu- 
tion, by  Leo,  of  private  auricular  confession,  for  that  public  con- 
fession before  the  religious  congregation  which  all  penitents  had 
been  required  to  make.  The  worship  of  images,  and  of  departed 
saints,  began  at  this  time  to  form  a  part  of  public  as  well  as  of-pri- 
vate  religious  service.  The  doctrine  of  purgatory  may  be  consid- 
ered as  now  constituting  an  essential  article  in  their  code  of  faith. 
Thus  do  we  perceive  in  this  century,  all  the  superstitious  observan- 
ces which  have  been  so  deeply  engrafted  in  the  papal  church  mar- 
shalling in  close  array. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  century,  Pelagius  introduced  his  doc- 
trines, which  denied  "  The  original  corruption  of  human  nature, 
and  the  necessity  of  divine  grace  to  enlighten  the  understanding  and 
to  purify  the  heart."  They  were  favorably  received  in  some  of  the 
Eastern  churches,  and  the  bishop  of  Jerusalem  openly  protected 
those  who  adopted  them.  Augustine  opposed  them  with  his  learn- 
ing and  talents ;  and  the  controversy  which  arose  was  referred  to 
Zosimus,  who  then  filled  the  pontifical  chair.  This  pontifi^",  who 
founded  his  pretensions  to  the  title  of  universal  bishop,  ujion  forged 
canons,  which  he  attempted  to  impose  upon  the  Christian  world  as 
the  genuine  decrees  of  the  council  of  Nice,  declared  tliese  doc- 
trines of  Pelagius  sound  in  faith.  The  African  bishops,  zealously 
sustained  by  Augustine,  warmly  controverted  this  decision  of  the 
infallible  head  of  the  Church.  Zosimus,  unable  to  reply  to  their 
objections,  and  forced,  by  the  general  judgment  pronounced  against 
those  doctrines,  to  reverse  his  papal  decree,  condemned  Pelagius 
and  his  disciples,  whom  he  had  previously  protected,  and  pursued 
them  with  the  utmost  severity. 
7 


98  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [5th  century. 

Another  question  whieh  agitated  the  Church  in  this  century,  was 
in  reference  to  the  appropriate  title  of  the  Virgin  Mary.  This 
arose  from  the  confused  notions  still  prevailing  on  the  hypostatical 
union  of  Christ's  human  and  divine  nature.  Divines  differed  in  the 
phraseology  with  which  they  expressed  their  opinions  of  the  true 
character  of  this  hypostasis.  Some  drawing  too  widely  a  distinc- 
tion between  "  the  Son  of  God"  and  "  the  Son  of  Man ;"  others 
too  intimately  blending  them  together.  Hence  arose  the  contro- 
versy, whether  the  Virgin  Mary  should  be  called  "  the  mother  of 
God"  {Theotokos)  or  "the  mother  of  Christ"  {Christ otokos.)  Nes- 
torius,  a  Syrian  bishop  of  Constantinople,  and  his  disciple  Anasta- 
sius,  adopted  the  latter  title.  For  this  opinion  Nestorius  was  con- 
demned by  a  council  at  Alexandria,  in  the  year  430,  convened  at 
the  instance  of  Cyril,  bishop  of  that  city.  Nestorius  retorted  on 
his  accuser,  by  charging  him  with  the  Apollinarian  heresy,  or  con- 
founding the  two  natures  of  Christ,  and  thundering  his  anathemas 
against  liim.  A  general  council  was  convened  at  Ephesus,  A.  D. 
431,  by  order  of  the  emperor  Theodosius,  the  Younger,  which  de- 
cided, that  Nestorius  was  "  guilty  of  blasphemy  against  the  divine 
majesty ;"  deprived  him  of  his  episcopal  dignity  and  banished  him. 
Another  council  convened  at  Antioch,  soon  after,  pronounced  against 
Cyril,  a  sentence  of  condemnation,  marked  with  all  the  violence  of 
that  which  had  been  thundered  against  Nestorius.- 

These  conflicting  decrees  of  the  councils  and  discordant  opinions 
of  the  bishops,  are  indisputable  evidences  of  the  errors,  in  matters 
of  faith,  into  which  the  highest  judicatories  of  the  papal  church 
have  fallen.  By  the  twenty-fourth  article  of  the  creed  of  pope 
Pius  IV.,  whatever  has  been  delivered,  defined  and  declared,  by 
the  sacred  canons  and  ecumenical  councils,  must  be  received  and 
professed  by  every  papist,  as  an  ai^icle  of  faith ;  and  whatever  is 
contrary  thereto,  and  all  heresies  condemned,  rejected  and  anathe- 
matized, by  the  Church,  must  be  by  him  condemned,  rejected  and 
anathematized.  By  the  fourteenth  article  of  the  same  creed,  he 
professes  "  to  admit  the  Holy  Scriptures  in  the  same  sense  that 
holy  Mother  Church  does,  Avhose  business  it  is  to  judge  of  the 
true  sense  and  interpretation  of  them;  and  to  interpret  them  accord- 
ing to  the  unanimous  sense  of  the  fathers."  The  conscience  of 
every  papist  must  be  laid  upon  the  bed  of  Procrustes,  to  be 
stretched  out,  or  to  be  lopped  off,  to  suit  the  discordant  standards 
to  which  it  is  applied.  Ambrose,  of  the  fourth  century,  says, 
"  Many  times  have  the  clergy  erred;  the  bishop  has  wavered  in  his 
opinion;  the  rich  men  have  adliercd  in  their  judgment  to  the  earth- 
ly princes  of  the  world  ;  meanwhile  the  people  alone  preserved  the 
faith  entire."  Jerome  also  testifies  as  to  the  credibility  of  the  fath- 
ers, when  he  says,  "  I  place  the  apostles  in  a  distinct  rank  from  all 

'Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History. 


5th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  99 

other  writers;  for  as  for  them,  they  always  speak  truth ;  but  as  for 
those  other,  they  err  sometimes,  like  men,  as  they  were."  Cyril 
remarks  "  Believe  me  not  in  whatsoever  I  shall  simply  deliver,  un- 
less thou  find  the  things  which  I  shall  speak  demonstrated  out  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures."^  The  fathers  admit  themselves  that  their 
opinions  are  not  to  be  received  as  authoritative,  but  subjected  to  the 
standard  of  the  gospel.  The  unanimous  sense  of  the  fathers  can- 
not be  obtained  on  any  one  point  of  faith;  for  they  have  differed  in 
opinions,  not  only  in  matters  of  faith,  but  also  of  practice.  It  is 
equally  impossible  to  ascertain  what  has  been  the  belief  or  the  judg- 
ment of  the  Church,  taken  either  singly  or  as  a  whole,  on  any  of 
the  points  in  controversy  of  the  present  or  of  a  preceding  age. 
This  has  sufficiently  appeared  in  our  progress  through  the  history 
of  the  preceding  centuries,  and  will  be  more  strongly  exhibited  in 
the  subsequent  history  of  the  Church.  These  are  the  infallible 
standards  of  faith  to  which  the  bigoted  votary  of  Rome  has  re- 
signed his  conscience! 

Nestorius  maintained,  that  "  There  were  in  Christ  two  distinct 
persons,  one  divine,  the  otiier  human;  this  union  was  formed  at  the 
moment  of  conception ;  not  of  nature  or  person,  but  of  will  and 
affection.  God  dwelt  in  Christ  as  in  his  Temple;  and  therefore 
Mary  was  properly  '  the  mother  of  Christ,'  and  not  the  mother  of 
God." 

The  Nestorians  were  condemned  by  the  council  of  Alexandria. 
But  about  eighteen  years  after  the  termination  of  this  controversy, 
(by  the  deposition  of  their  leader  and  his  banishment  to  Arabia, 
where  he  closed  his  solitary  life  in  the  desert,)  Eutyches,  an  abbot 
in  Constantinople,  who  violently  opposed  their  doctrines,  main- 
tained, that  "  The  two  natures,  which  existed  in  Christ  before  his 
incarnation,  became  one  after  it,  by  the  hyposfatical  union."  This 
was  construed  to  be  a  denial  of  the  human  nature  of  Clirist,  and  a 
council  assembled  by  Flavian,  the  bishop  of  that  see,  in  the  year 
448,  degraded  him  from  his  office  and  pronounced  against  him  a 
sentence  of  excommunication.  Thus  did  one  council  condemn 
Nestorius,  and  another  his  opponent. 

To  reconcile  these  differences  and  to  put  an  end  to  the  contro- 
versy which  seemed  to  have  been  sustained  by  a  confusion  of  terms, 
and  by  a  profound  ignorance  of  the  subject,  an  ecumenical  council 
was  convened  at  Epliesus,-  in  the  following  year,  by  the  emperor 
Theodosius.  Eutyches  was  acquitted  of  the  charges  alledged 
against  him  by  the  council  of  Constantinople;  and  Flavian,  whose 
influence  had  procured  his  condemnation,  was  publicly  scourged 

'Daille  on  the  Fatliers. 

-This  council,  at  Ephesiis,  was  called  by  the  Latin?,  ''  Conventus  Lalromtm,''^  and  by 
the  Greeks,  "  Siinodon  /.csfriTcen ;"  from  the  turbulence  of  its  proceedings  and  the 
savage  barbarity  of  its  character. 


100  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [5th  ceiitury. 

with  the  most  cruel  severity,  and  afterwards  banished  to  Epipas,  a 
city  of  Lydia. 

In  the  year  451,  the  council  of  Chalcedon  assembled.  The 
Eutychian  doctrines  were  condemned.  Dioscorus,  the  bishop  of 
Alexandria,  who  liad  presided  over  the  council  of  Ephesus,  was 
deposed  and  banished  to  Paphlagonia ;  and  the  acts  of  that  council 
were  annulled, 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  power  of  papacy,  aided  by  the  secular  arm  of  the  empire, 
and  strengthened  by  the  credulity,  the  ignorance  and  the  submission 
of  the  people,  effectually  suppressed  every  effort  to  bring  about  a 
moral  regeneration  in  society.  Superstition,  which  was  the  main- 
spring of  all  its  operations,  exercised  an  irresistible  influence  on 
the  minds  of  all  classes  of  men ;  and  it  was  the  policy  of  popery 
to  control  the  public  feeling  and  sentiment  by  an  address  to  the 
corrupt  passions  of  the  heart.  It  is  true  that  attempts  were  made 
to  restore  true  religion  and  piety  to  the  Church,  but  these  laudable 
efforts  were  defeated  by  the  force  of  ecclesiastical  power. 

Cyril,  the  bishop  of  Alexandria,  displayed  his  zeal  for  the  Church 
and  his  hatred  of  heresy,  by  a  brutal  persecution  of  the  Novatians; 
who,  in  the  language  of  Gibbon,  were  "The  most  innocent  and 
harmless  of  the  Sectaries."  The  prohibition  of  their  public  wor- 
ship, and  the  confiscation  of  their  ecclesiastical  possessions,  were 
among  the  earliest  measures  of  the  administration  of  his  sacred 
office. 

Vigilantius,  the  Protestant  of  the  age  and  a  presbyter  of  a  church 
in  Spain,  propagated  in  this  century  his  doctrines  of  reformation. 
He  was  a  man  "  remarkable  for  his  learning  and  eloquence." 

He  reprobated  the  worship  of  saints ;  condemned  the  religious 
veneration  rendered  to  the  tombs  and  bones  of  the  martyrs ;  op- 
posed the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  and  the  observance  of  fasls;  main- 
tained that  the  practice  of  burning  tapers,  in  the  churches,  and  at 
the  tombs  of  the  saints,  in  the  day,  was  derived  from  pagan  super- 
stition; and  advanced  opinions  adverse  to  those  of  the  clergy  on 
the  causes  of  the  corrupt  state  of  the  Church  and  the  means  of  its 
reformation.  For  liis  opposition  to  the  superstitious  rites  of  wor- 
ship, he  is  compared  by  Jerome  to  the  Hydra,  to  Cerberus,  to  the 
Centaurus,  and  who  calls  him  "  the  organ  of  the  Daemon." 

Many  bishops^  in  Gaul  and  Spain,  countenanced  the  efforts  of 
Vigilantius,  but  they  were  silenced  by  the  angry  murmurs  of  the 
Churcli ;  and  Vigilantius  himself  was  formally  condemned  and  pro- 
nounced a  heretic. 

'Proli !  nefas,  episcopos  sui  secleris  dicilur  liabnre  consortea.     Hicr.  in  Vigil. 


6th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  101 


CHAPTER    V. 

The  French  monarchy  was  founded  by  Clovis,  in  the  close  of 
the  last  century.  It  embraced  previously  but  a  few  provinces  on 
the  right  bank  of  the  Rhine.  He  was  converted  to  Christianity, 
and  was  baptized,  with  three  thousand  of  his  subjects.  In  this  cen- 
tury many  of  the  pagan  nations  were  brought  within  the  pale  of 
the  Church.  Augustine,  prior  of  the  monastery  of  St.  Andrew, 
was  sent  over  to  Britain  in  the  year  596,  and  succeeded  in  the  pro- 
pagation of  the  gospel.  He  changed  the  heathen  temples  into 
sanctuaries  of  Christian  worship.  He  is  considered  the  first  arch- 
bishop of  that  kingdom.  Columba,  an  Irish  monk,  compelled  to 
leave  his  native  country  by  the  civil  commotions  in  which  he  had 
taken  part,  about  the  year  565,  went  to  Scotland.  He  there 
preached  the  gospel ;  and  from  his  success  in  the  conversion  of  the 
inliabitants,  he  received  the  title  of  "  the  apostle  of  the  Picts." 
Numbers  of  the  Jews  were  also  persuaded  to  embrace  the  tenets 
of  the  Christian  religion;  but  in  Spain  and  Gaul  coercive  measures 
were  resorted  to,  and  they  were  compelled  to  renounce  their  an- 
cient faith  and  to  submit  to  the  ordinance  of  baptism. 

The  external  affairs  of  the  Church  were  generally  prosperous; 
and  the  light  of  gospel  truth  continued  to  penetrate  the  distant 
regions  of  paganism  and  idolatry;  but  its  internal  affairs  exhibited 
neither  peace  nor  purity.  The  ambition  of  the  bishops  of  Rome 
and  Constantinople,  the  overbearing  temper  of  those  who  filled  the 
subordinate  dioceses,  and  the  corrupt  practices  of  all  orders  of  the 
clergy ;  together  with  the  novel  doctrines  which  continually  agi- 
tated the  Christian  world,  were  fruitful  sources  of  contention,  and 
vitiated  the  pure  fountains  of  religion. 

In  a  council  convened  in  Constantinople,  by  the  emperor  Mauri- 
cius,  A.  D.  588,  John,  bishop  of  that  see,  claimed  the  title  of  ecu- 
menical or  universal  bishop.  This  had  been  conceded  to  the  pat- 
riarchs of  Constantinople,  by  the  emperors  Leo  and  Justinian.  The 
circumstances,  however,  under  which  it  was  now  assumed,  excited 
the  anger  of  Pelagius,  the  Roman  pontiff;  and  he  expressed  his 
indignation  by  a  remonstrance  which  he  submitted  to  the  emperor. 
This  measure,  however,  was  not  accompanied  with  success;  neither 
the  emperor,  nor  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  admitted  his  pre- 
tensions; and  this  led  to  renewed  dissensions  in  the  Church. 

Although  the  servile  minions  of  the  papal  court  applied  to  the 
supreme  pontiff,  the  title  of  "  Vicegerent  of  the  Most  High,"  and 
elevated  him  to  a  throne  above  all  earthly  potentates,  believing  him 
to  he  judge  in  the  placn  of  God;  it  is  certain,  that  the  emperors 
and  princes  of  this  age  paid  little  regard  to  his  pretensions  to  spir- 


102  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [Gth  century, 

itual  sovereignty,  and  restrained  him  in  the  exercise  of  his  official 
powers,  by  the  civil  laws  of  the  kingdom  and  the  authority  of  the 
throne.  The  Gothic  princes  who  wielded  the  sceptre  over  Wes- 
tern Europe,  exercised  the  right  of  determining  the  validity  of  every 
election  to  fill  the  vacant  see.  Their  approbation  was  indispensable 
to  the  elevation  of  every  aspiring  candidate  for  that  sacred  office. 
"  They  enacted  spiritual  laws,  called  the  religious  orders  before 
their  tribunals,  and  summoned  councils  by  their  legal  authority.'* 
The  political  sovereign  of  the  State  virtually  nominated  the  eccle- 
siastical head  of  the  Church,  and  determined  by  his  arbitrary  will 
who  should  be  the  successor  to  the  pretended  apostolic  chair.  The 
appointment  to  this  succession  had  the  semblance  only  of  a  clerical 
act,  as  all  the  proceedings  were  under  the  control  of  the  crown, 
and  to  this  authority  the  Church  submitted  without  a  murmur. 

The  chair  of  St.  Peter  was  the  highest  object  of  the  ambition 
of  the  clergy,  and  the  recurrence  of  a  vacancy  produced  the  most 
animated  contests,  and  frequently  civil  war  and  bloodshed ;  each 
aspirant  resorting  to  the  expedients  of  fraud,  bribery,  or  force,  to 
ensure  his  success.  In  the  year  498,  the  death  of  Anastasius  II., 
was  followed  by  scenes  of  the  most  revolting  character  in  the  city 
of  Rome.  Symmachus  and  Laurentius  were  both  elected  to  the 
succession.  Although  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  were  at  the 
same  time  bishops  of  Rome,  as  the  papal  writers  have  informed  us, 
laboring  faithfully  and  harmoniously  in  the  cause  of  Christ  and  in 
the  building  up  of  his  Church ;  the  successors  of  those  holy  and 
devout  Christians  and  servants  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  assumed, 
each  for  himself,  the  apostolic  charge  of  the  Church  ;  and  claimed 
the  right  of  an  undivided  and  undisputed  possession  of  the  wiiole 
see.  They  alledged  against  each  other,  with  unquestionable  evi- 
dences of  truth,  crimes  of  the  most  nefarious  character;  and  fully 
succeeded  in  producing  in  the  public  mind  a  thorough  conviction, 
that  they  had  both  been  guilty  of  the  most  diabolical  acts  of  wick- 
edness. Three  several  ecclesiastical  councils  in  Rome  had  con- 
vened ;  but  through  the  intrigues  and  machinations  of  the  parties 
their  deliberations  were  terminated  without  a  decision  of  the  con- 
troversy. Theodoric,  king  of  the  Ostrogoths,  who  had  recently 
obtained  possession  of  the  throne  of  Italy,  liaving  been  gained  over 
to  the  party  of  Symmachus,  summoned  a  fourth  council  in  the  be- 
ginning of  this  century,  and  by  his  authority,  Symmachus  was  de- 
clared to  be  the  rightful  successor,  and  his  adversary  Laurentius 
branded  with  the  epithet  of  anti-pope  and  banished.  The  writers 
who  have  transmitted  accounts  of  these  proceedings,  have  repre- 
sented this  schism  in  the  Church  as  one  of  a  most  odious  character, 
and  as  marked  by  the  most  flagitious  crimes;  by  assassinations  and 
massacres,  committed  by  both  parties,  perfectly  regardless  of  the 
restraints  of  the  law. 


6th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  103 

During  these  continued  struggles  for  supremacy  between  the  pat- 
riarch of  the  East  and  the  pontillof  the  West,  the  frequent  con- 
tests for  the  papal  chair,  and  the  advancing  pretensions  of  the  sub- 
ordinate bishops,  Christianity  became  more  corrupted;  vice  and 
profligacy  pervaded  all  orders  of  the  clergy,  Tlie  opprobrious 
title  of  "an  assembly  of  robbers,"  imputed  to  the  council  of  Ephe- 
sus  in  the  last  century,  might  very  properly  be  attached  to  almost 
all  of  the  councils  of  the  Church  in  this  and  the  succeeding  centu- 
ries, agreeably  to  the  concurrent  voices  of  the  most  faithful  histo- 
rians of  those  periods.  Their  deliberations  were  governed  by  cor- 
rupt influences;  and  their  decisions  were  seldom  marked  by  wis- 
dom, and  a  devotion  to  the  prosperity  and  true  interests  of  the 
Christian  Church. 

In  this  century,  temples  were  erected  in  honor  of  the  departed 
saints ;  and  were  numerous  in  the  East  as  well  as  in  the  West.  A 
superstitious  belief  prevailed,  that  not  only  cities  but  provinces 
were  under  the  peculiar  guardianship  of  those  who  were  thus 
honored  and  revered.  Festivals  were  instituted  in  commemoration 
of  their  piety.  These  were  for  the  most  part  founded  on  pagan 
rites;  as  the  festival  of  the  purification  of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary, 
which  was  substituted  for  the  Lupercalia  or  feasts  of  Pan,  to  gratiiy 
the  wishes  of  the  pagan  converts.  The  devout  worshipper  of  these 
tutelary  deities  satisfied  his  conscience  and  convinced  his  credulity, 
by  an  expression  in  the  Apocalypse,  that  "These  are  they  which 
follow  the  Lamb  whithersoever  he  goeth."  Jerome  has  said,  "  If 
the  Lamb  is  everywhere,  these  who  are  with  the  Lamb  must  also 
be  everywhere."  Litanies  were  addressed  to  them ;  and  they  be- 
came the  objects  of  devout  adoration.  Thus  was  established  a 
system  of  polytheism,  as  wicked  and  as  absurd  as  the  mythology 
of  the  ancients. 

Purgatory  was  more  distinctly  defined,  and  the  doctrine  of  its 
fiery  ordeal  impressed  more  strongly  upon  the  public  mind.  Lac- 
tanlius  somewhat  obscurely  taught,  that  "  The  souls  of  men,  after 
this  life,  are  all  shut  up  together  in  one  common  prison,  where  they 
are  to  continue  until  the  day  of  judgment."  Hilary  more  clearly 
adirmed,  that  "At  the  last  day  we  are  to  endure  an  indefiitigable 
fire;  when  we  are  to  undergo  those  grievous  torments  for  the  ex- 
piation of  our  sins  and  purifying  our  souls."  Ambrose  also  believed, 
that  "  It  is  necessary  that  all  who  desire  to  return  into  paradise 
should  be  proved  by  this  fire."  Augustine  intimated,  that  "  The 
souls  of  men  departed  are  shut  into  he  knew  not  what  secret  dark 
receptacle,  where  they  are  to  remain  from  the  hour  of  their  de- 
parture until  the  resurrection."  ^  What  those  infallible  fathers  had 
faintly  shadowed  forth  in  their  gloomy  imaginations,  assumed  in 
this  age,  "  a  local  habitation  and  a  name." 

'Daille,  on  the  Fathers. 


104  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [6th  century. 

At  the  close  of  this  century,  Gregory  the  Great,  "  who,  as  a 
writer  observes,  had  a  marvellous  fecundity  of  genius  in  inventing, 
and  an  irresistible  force  of  eloquence  in  recommending  superstitious 
observances,"  determined  the  true  locality  and  defined  by  metes 
and  bounds,  the  '•'■  ahdilis  receptaadis''''  of  Augustine;  and  is  un- 
doubtedly entitled  to  the  credit  of  having  first  ascertained  the  true 
character  of  those  hitherto  unexplored  and  mysterious  regions  of 
the  dead.  In  the  lowest  abyss  lies  the  apartment  of  the  damned, 
who  are  there  consigned  to  endless  and  irremediable  woes.  Above 
this  burns  the  purifying  fire,  into  which  are  cast  the  souls  of  those 
who  die  in  grace;  that  they  may  be  thoroughly  purged  and  pre- 
pared for  heaven ;  but  whose  torments  may  be  alleviated  by  the 
suffrages  of  the  faithful  in  this  life.  Prayers,  alms  and  masses,  and 
other  works  of  piety,  such  as  indulgences,  are  efficacious  in  miti- 
gating their  torments,  and  securing  for  them  a  safe  and  early  pass- 
port to  heaven.  The  "  limhus  infantum^''''  of  lighter  specific  grav- 
ity, floats  above  the  regions  of  purgatory,  and  forms  the  receptacle 
of  infants;  who  have  not  tasted  the  exorcised  salt;  whose  nose  and 
ears,  have  not  been  anointed  with  spittle;  whose  forehead,  eyes 
and  breast,  have  not  been  crossed  ;  upon  the  top  of  whose  head  the 
holy  chrism  has  not  been  rubbed  ;  and  into  whose  face  the  priest  has 
never  blown  the  sign  of  the  cross.  Into  this  ethereal  fire  the  unbap- 
tized  infant  must  first  be  plunged,  before  its  sinless  soul  is  received 
up  into  the  mansions  of  bliss.  Above  these,  lies  the  unoccupied  ex- 
panse of  the  "  limbus  patriim;''''  where  the  souls  of  the  patriarchs, 
prophets,  and  other  holy  men,  performed  their  expurgations  before 
the  incarnation  and  crucifixion  of  Christ;  who,  descending  into 
hell,  before  his  resurrection  from  the  dead,  released  them  from 
their  imprisonment  and  translated  them  to  heaven. 

But  from  the  blessed  abodes  of  purgatory  and  the  limbus  infan- 
tum^ contumaceous  and  unbelieving  heretics  are  forever  excluded. 
Their  habitation  is  with  the  damned  in  the  lowest  abyss  of  hell. 
"  Whosoever  shall  say,  that  there  is  no  debt  of  temporal  punish- 
ment to  be  paid  in  purgatory,  is  accursed."  "  Whosoever  shall 
say,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass  is  not  to  be  used  for  the  dead,  is  ac- 
cursed." "  He  who  acknowledges  not  the  authority  of  the  pope, 
and  who  submits  not  implicitly  to  the  decrees  and  doctrines  of  the 
papal  church,  the  same  shall  be  accursed."  Such  is  the  language 
of  popery. 

A  new  source  of  revenue  to  the  Church  was  obtained  by  grant- 
ing to  the  liberal  benefactors  of  the  clergy  a  remission  of  sins.  The 
rich  endowments  bestowed  on  the  monasteries,  and  costly  offerings 
placed  upon  the  altars,  procured  for  the  pious  donors  the  interces- 
sion of  the  saints  in  heaven,  and  a  sure  acceptance  with  God.  This 
was  an  age  prolific  of  ecclesiastical  orders.  These  by  their  im- 
mense wealth,  and  their  unbounded  influence  over  the  superstition 
and  ignorance  of  the  people,  were  the  strong  pillars  of  the  papal 


6th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  105 

throne.  The  monks  multiplied  in  numbers  in  every  part  of  Europe, 
and  infested  society  like  swarms  of  locusts;  and  with  an  influence 
more  dreadful  than  the  plagues  of  Egypt,  they  covered  the  whole 
land,  devouring  the  substance  of  the  deluded  victims  of  their  priest- 
craft and  frauds,  and  corrupting  the  morals  of  the  community.  The 
Roman  pontiffs  and  the  patriarchs  of  the  East,  patronized  and  en- 
couraged these  religious  associations  as  instruments  of  their  ambi- 
tion and  rapacity.  Thus  may  the  clergy  of  this  age  be  said  to  have 
improved  on  the  artful  devices  and  tlie  wickedness  of  their  prede- 
cessors, With  their  accession  of  wealth  and  power,  vice  and  pro- 
fligacy increased.  The  truly  pious  and  the  reflective  of  all  classes 
beheld  with  sorrow  and  in  despondency  this  downward  tendency  of 
society.  The  evil  was  manifest  to  all,  but  it  sprang  from  the  very 
fountains  which  should  have  poured  forth  the  streams  of  purity  and 
virtue;  and  there  was  no  moral  powder  which  could  arrest  it. 

In  the  history  of  the  precedmg  century,  the  infallible  church 
presented  the  mortifying  spectacle  of  an  assembly  of  bishops  at 
Jerusalem,  a  council  of  bishops  at  Diospolis,  and  the  sovereign 
pontiff  Zosimus,  declaring  the  doctrines  of  Pelagius,  orthodox  and 
sound  in  the  faith ;  and  the  councils  in  Gaul,  Britain,  and  Africa, 
and  an  ecumenical  council  at  Ephesus,  pronouncing  them  heretical, 
and  condemning  them  with  unmitigated  severity;  and  more,  the  in- 
fallible head  of  that  church  reversing  his  own  solemn  judicatum, 
and  relentlessly  persecuting  those  whom  he  had  protected.  It  might 
properly  be  remarked  here,  that  the  emperors  condemned  those 
doctrines  by  their  edicts;  and  on  a  vital  question  of  scriptural  faith 
were  unquestionably  moi"e  orthodox,  if  not  less  fallible,  tlian  the 
head  of  the  church,  the  legitimate  successor  to  the  apostolic  throne. 

The  doctrines  of  Origen,  introduced  in  the  third  century,  al- 
though at  the  time  condemned  as  fanciful  and  involved  in  mysti- 
cism, were  occasionally  revived;  but  were  particularly  cherished 
by  the  monks.  In  the  East,  during  the  present  century,  new  advo- 
cates appeared  in  defense  of  Origenism,  and  many  of  the  bishops 
of  the  Eastern  churches  ojjenly  sustained  it.  At  a  general  council 
assembled  in  Constantinople,  A.  D.  553, ^  by  the  authority  of  Jus- 
tinian, the  errors  of  Origen  were  condemned.  This  however  did 
not  terminate  the  controversy. 

Eutyches  had  maintained,  that  the  human  nature  in  Christ  w^as 
absorbed  by  the  divine,  after  him  arose  another  sect,  known  as  the 
Monophysites,  who  affirmed,  that  "  The  two  natures  were  so  inti- 

'From  tho  writings  of  Origen,  the  following  doctrines  have  been  extracted ;  and 
were  condemned  by  this  council,  "In  the  Trinity,  the  Father  is  greater  than  the 
Son,  and  tiie  Son  than  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  soul  of  Christ  was  united  to  the  Word 
befoie  the  incarnation.  Tho  celestial  bodies  are  animated  and  endowed  with  rational 
souls.  As  Christ  was  crucified  in  this  world  to  save  n-.ankind,  he  will  be  crucified 
in  the  next  to  save  the  devils.  The  sonls  of  men  have  a  yirc-existence,  and  are  placed 
in  mortal  bodies  ;is  a  punishment  for  sins  then  committed.  After  the  resurrection 
all  bodies  will  be  of  a  round  fiiruro." 


106  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [6th  ceiitury. 

mately  united  as  to  form  one,  yet  without  any  confusion,  change,  or 
mixture  of  the  two,"  which  mysterious  union  they  explained  by 
saying,  that  "  In  Christ  tliere  is  one  nature,  but  that  nature  is  two- 
fold and  compounded  !"  Such  were  the  minute  shades  of  ditlerence 
between  these  two  sects.  Both  originated  in  the  last  century. 
When  in  this,  the  controversy  on  the  revived  doctiines  of  Origen 
arose,  Theodore,  bishop  of  Csesarea,  a  zealous  Origenist,  with  a 
view  of  diverting  the  emperor  Justinian,  from  the  prosecution  of 
decisive  measures  against  his  party,  persuaded  him  tliat  the  Mono- 
physites,  to  whom  tlie  emperor  was  also  strongly  opposed,  might 
be  reconciled  to  the  Church,  if  the  acts  of  the  council  of  Chalce- 
don,  which  declared  orthodox  wliat  are  technically  called  "  The 
Three  Chapters,"  ^  were  annulled,  and  the  writings  of  the  authors 
of  those  chapters  which  countenanced  the  doctrines  of  Nestorius, 
were  also  condemned  and  prohibited.  This  artful  device  of  the 
Caesarean  bishop  succeeded;  and  Justinian  published  an  edict  in 
the  year  544,  condemning  those  writfngs  and  ordering  the  erasure 
of  "  the  three  chapters"  from  the  canons  of  that  council.  As  the 
shrewd  and  perspicacious  bishop  had  foreseen,  this  edict  excited 
an  animated  controversy  in  the  Church,  and  was  particularly  op- 
posed by  Vigilius,  the  Roman  pontiff.  In  obedience  to  the  emperor, 
however,  he  convened  a  council  of  seventy  bishops,  and  in  con- 
formity with  their  decree,  he  issued  an  edict  formally  condemning 
"  the  three  chapters."  This  measure  of  the  Roman  pontitf  was 
highly  otfensive  to  the  bishops  of  Africa  and  Illyricum,  and  from 
their  strenuous  opposition  to  this  sentence  of  condemnation  against 
the  chapters,-  Vigilius  was  compelled  to  recall  his  edict,  and  to 
cancel  the  proceedings  of  his  council.  The  emperor,  resolved  upon 
the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose,  issued  anotlier  edict,  A.  D.  551, 
confirming  the  former,  and  summoned  the  pontilf  to  appear  at  the 
imperial  court  in  Constantinople.  Fie  obeyed  the  imperial  order, 
and  there  assented  to  the  measures  of  Justinian. 

With  a  view  of  determining  this  contest  by  ecclesiastical  author- 
ity, the  emperor  convened  an  ecumenical  council  at  Constantinople 
in  553;  which  formally  decreed,  that  "The  doctrines  of  Oiigen, 
and  those  contained  in  '  the  three  chapters,'  were  heretical  and  per- 
nicious." 

Vigilius,  intimidated  by  the  decided  measures  and  the  threatening 
language  of  the  African  and  Illyrican  bishops,  refused  liis  assent 
to  tl)e  decrees  of  the  council.     For  his  contumacy,  he  was  treated 

'  "The  ttirce  chapters"  were  the  productions  of  Tlicodore,  of  Mopsiiestia  ;  Tlieo- 
dorct,  of  Cyrus;  and  Ibas,  of  Edessa.  These  writings  favored  tlie  Ncstoiian  doc- 
trines. Tlie  council  of  Ciialccdon  tiad,  nothwithslanding,  declared  tlicm  orthodox. 
The  council  of  (Constantinople,  |)ronouncod  Ihein  iicretical  and  pernicious.  Such 
was  the  infiUibility  of  these  ecclesiastical  jiidicalorips. 

'Those  bishops  withdrew  from  their  coinnumion  with  the  Western  churches,  and 
declared  Vigilius  an  apostate.  They  refused  to  acknowledge  his  autiiority,  or  to  re- 
unite with  the  churches  in  the  West,  until  lie  repealed  his  edict. 


6th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  107 

with  many  personal  indignities  and  banished.  Nor  was  the  sentence 
of  his  exile  withdrawn  until  he  yielded  to  the  emperor  the  whole 
ground  of  controversy.  For  the  fourth  time  he  changed  his  religi- 
ous creed;  and  by  a  formal  edict  he  pronounced  the  doctrines  of 
"the  three  chapters,"  "execrable  blasphemies." 

Notwithstanding  the  indisputable  authority  conceded  by  the  pa- 
pal church  to  the  ecumenical  councils,  and  a  true  and  loyal  papist 
swears  to  profess  and  to  receive  as  an  article  of  his  faith,  whatever 
has  been  delivered,  defined,  and  declared,  by 'the  sacred  canons  and 
ecumenical  councils  of  the  Church,  many  of  the  Western  bishops 
refused  to  yield  their  opinions,  and  to  render  obedience  to  the  can- 
ons of  this  fifth  general  council ;  and  some  of  them  withdrew  from 
their  communion  with  the  Romish  church;  for  not  only  Vigilius, 
but  all  the  pontiffs  who  have  since  occupied  the  chair  of  St.  Peter, 
have  uniformly  acknowledged  the  authority  of  this  council.  This 
schism  appears  never  to  have  been  healed. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 
The  world  was  rapidly  approaching  that  period  in  its  history, 
which  is  called  the  "  Dark  Age.''''  Few  institutions  for  the  cultiva- 
tion of  letters  now  existed,  and  a  superstitious  prejudice  against  the 
writings  of  the  ancient  Greeks  and  Romans,  generally  prevailed. 
Gregory  the  Great,  at  the  close  of  this  century,  is  said  to  have  de- 
stroyed with  his  own  hands,  many  of  those  monuments  of  genius 
and  learning,  and  to  have  caused  the  Capitoline  Library  in  Rome 
to  be  burned.  Almost  the  only  traces  handed  down  to  us  of  the 
literary  productions  of  the  age,  are  those  of  a  theological  charac- 
ter. Marius,  bishop  of  Avranches,  Menander,  Justinian,  and  a  few 
others,  are  honorable  exceptions.  Bound  down  as  the  age  appears 
to  have  been,  in  the  fetters  of  superstition  and  bigotry,  it  cannot  be 
a  matter  of  surprise,  that  there  was  scarcely  an  evidence  of  that 
progress  in  religious  reformation  which  had  been  made  in  the  pre- 
ceding centuries.  We  are  not,  how^ever,  to  suppose  that  those  oc- 
casional and  glimmering  lights  which  had  appeared  above  the  hori- 
zon were  extinguished.     They  were  indeed,  almost  entirely  ob- 

Ao<e. — Preceding  this  was  another  controversy  on  the  Tiinity.  It  arose  in  the  begfin- 
ning  of  this  century,  and  became  one  of  sufficient  importance  to  command  the  attention 
of  the  Church.  Was  it  scriptural  to  affirm,  that  "one  of  the  Trinity  sulfurcd  on  the 
cross?"  The  monies  of  Scytliia,  maintained  the  affirmative.  It  was  admitted,  that 
"one  person  of  the  Trinity  suffered  in  the  flesh  "  The  Scytliian  monks  were  ac- 
cused by  those  wlio  mainUiined  tiiis  opinion  of  Eutychianism ;  whilst  they,  in  reply, 
charged  tlic  al)eltors  of  this  doctrine  vvitii  the  iieresy  of  the  Nestorians.  An  appeal 
was  made  lo  tlie  pontifical  chair;  and  Hormisdas,  the  successor  of  tlio  celebrated 
Symmachus,  decided  that  tlie  proposition  maintained  by  the  Scythians,  involved 
heretical  doctrines.  Joim  11. ,  tlie  fourth  m  tiio  succession  from  lloruiisdas,  pronounced 
it  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  orlhodo.x  failh  of  the  (/iiurch.  The  coimcil  of  Con- 
stantinople, in  .55.3,  by  their  decree  sustained  the  Scythian  faith;  and  condewnicd  the 
opinion  of  Hormisdas. 

These  conflicting  decisions  of  an  infallible  head,  exposed  the  pontiffs  to  the  ridicule 
and  contempt  of  the  wise  and  good. 


108  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [6th  century. 

scured  by  the  overwhelming  moral  darkness  which  universally  pre- 
vailed ;  but  the  light  which  appeared  in  the  Capital  of  the  empire 
in  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  diffused  its  rays  over  the  exten- 
sive and  populous  provinces  of  Asia-Minor,  and  in  time,  illumina- 
ted the  mountain  regions  of  the  Alps,  the  Cevennes,  and  the  Pyr- 
enees; until  that  great  luminary  of  the  reformation  arose  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century,  which,  under  the  Providence  of 
God,  is  destined  to  extend  the  light  of  Gospel  truth  over  the  whole 
habitable  globe. 

During  this  century  (the  6th,)  the  Novatians  had  flourishing 
churches  in  Persia,  in  India,  in  Armenia,  in  Arabia,  in  Syria,  and 
the  remote  countries  of  the  East.  These  were  all  religious  asso- 
ciations, acknowledging  no  allegiance  to  or  connection  witli  the  Ro- 
mish hierarchy.  Their  rites  and  forms  of  worship  were  conform- 
able to  their  own  religious  institutions;  and  their  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment, although  no  doubt,  materially  changed  since  the  days  of 
their  founder  Novatian,  from  its  original  conformation,  still  re- 
tained the  strong  features  which  distinguished  it  from  the  Popish 
church.  There  are  few,  if  any  traces  of  the  Novatians  in  Eu- 
rope at  this  period. 

There  were  however,  in  Scotland  and  other  portions  of  the  Brit- 
ish Isles,  distinct  religious  organizations,  maintaining  their  own 
doctrines  and  internal  structure,  and  essentially  ditfering  from  the 
Church  of  Rome. 

"Although,"  says  the  author  of 'The  Antiquities  of  Ireland,' ^ 
"  St.  Austin  is  reputed  the  patron  saint  of  England,  and  the  con- 
verter of  the  Anglo-Saxons,  yet  the  honor  of  this  should  by  no 
means  be  ascribed  to  him  alone ;  to  the  monks  of  Ireland,  much 
more  than  to  St.  Austin,  should  this  great  work  be  ascribed." 

About  the  year  5G5,  or  thirty  years  before,  Augustine,  or  St. 
Austin,  as  he  is  called  by  the  popish  writers,  was  sent  over  to  Brit- 
ain by  Gregory  the  Great;  Columba,  from  his  partici[)ation  in  the 
civil  commotions  in  Ireland,  was  comjielled  to  leave  his  native 
country.  He  went  to  Scotland,  and,  as  the  same  historian  re- 
marks, "  converted  the  whole  country,  so  as  to  die  with  the  glori- 
ous title  of  '  Apostle  of  the  Picts.' "  "  Conall,  king  of  Dal-Riada, 
bestowed  on  him  the  Isle  of  Huy,  where  he  established  his  chief 
monastery;  and  from  thence,  with  his  followers,  he  entered  the 
country  of  the  Picts."  On  this  island,  Columba  established  also  a 
seminary  for  the  cultivation  of  literature  and  the  diilusion  of  know- 
ledge. This  acquired  a  high  reputation  as  a  school  of  instruction. 
In  it  his  pupils  were  taught  the  Holy  Scriptures;  and  when  well 
prepared  and  qualified,  they  were  sent  to  propagate  the  Christian 
religion,  and  to  plant  churches  throughout  the  benighted  regions  of 
the  North.  Columba,  thus  exiled  from  his  country  and  cut  off  from 
all  communication  with  the  Romish  church,  by  a  sentence  of  the 

'  O'Halloran's  History  of  Ireland,  vol.  3,  p.  152. 


6th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  109 

Irish  clergy,  formed  in  these  newly  evangelized  countries,  his  own 
ecclesiastical  system.  "  His  followers  rejected  auricular  confes- 
sion, penance,  and  absolution;  the  use  of  the  chrism  ni  baptism, 
and  the  rite  of  confirmation.  Opposed  the  worship  of  saints  and 
angels;  the  celibacy  of  the  clergy  ;  the  doctrine  of  the  real  pres- 
ence ;  and  placed  no  reliance  upon  works  of  supererogation."  They 
held  no  communion  with  the  churcli  of  Rome,  "  Tiieir  form  of 
government  was  essentially  presbyterian.  The  members  of  their 
synods  were  called  "  Seniorcs,''''  or  eklei's,  to  whom,  in  their  col- 
lective capacity,  belonged  the  right  of  appointing  and  ordainmg 
those  who  engaged  in  the  ministerial  or  missionary  office."  These, 
•when  installed  as  pastors  of  particular  churches,  were  called,  in 
the  Scriptural  sense  of  the  term,  bishops,  as  elders  having  the  over- 
sight of  their  respective  churches.  They  were  all  subject  to  the 
rules  of  tlie  College  of  Huy,'  at  whatever  distance  from  it  they 
might  be  placed."  This  sect,  known  in  history,  as  "  Culdees,"  or 
"  Cultores  Dei,"  differed  from  the  Papal  church  in  their  time  of 
celebrating  the  festival  of  Easter;  having  adhered  to  tiie  time  of 
its  observance  as  received  by  the  Asiatic  cliurches. 

The  marked  differences  between  the  Culdee  and  Romish  churches 
are  satisfactorily  explained  by  the  circumstances  under  which  the 
Christian  religion  was  first  planted  in  Ireland. 

The  Apostle,  James,  the  elder,  is  supposed  to  have  preached  the 
Gospel  in  that  island;  and  Mansuetus,  a  disciple  of  John,  the  Evan- 
gelist, some  time  after,  passed  over  into  Ireland  and  propagated  its 
doctrines.  As  early  as  the  second  century,  Cathaldus  went  to  Italy 
as  a  missionary  from  the  Christian  churches  in  Ireland,  which  is  an 
evidence  of  the  flourishing  condition  of  those  infant  churches  in 
that  country.  In  the  following  century,  an  Irish  bishop  was  mar- 
tyred in  Britain.  The  early  doctrines,  and  the  forms  of  worship 
and  government  of  those  churches,  were  not  therefore  received 
from  Rome;  but  were  derived  directly  from  the  two  apostles  men- 
tioned, and  preserved  without  any  communion  with  tiiose  established 
on  the  Continent.  Hence  it  was  that  they  conformed  much  closer 
with  those  of  the  Asiatic,  or  Eastern  churches,  than  with  those  of  the 
Western.  In  their  defense  of  the  time  of  celebrating  Easter,  the 
Irish  clergy  maintained,  that  they  had  received  it,  not  from  Rome, 
but  from  Asia ;  and  that  "  they  adhered  lo  the  custom  which  St. 
John  and  all  the  churches  under  him  observed."-  It  was  not  until 
the  fifth  century  that  any  attempt  ^vas  made  by  the  Roman  pontiffs 
to  model  ihe  Christian  churches  in  Ireland,  agreeably  to  the  Papal 
hierarchy;  and  the  first  missionaries  sent  over  in  the  year  431,  by 
Celestine,  ^verc  unsuccessful  in  the  objects  of  their  visit. 

Separated  from  all  communion  with  the  corrupt  systems  which 
had  entirely  changed,  and  thoroughly  tlcbased  ttie  simplicity  and 

'  By  some  authors  written,  Ilii ;   by  olliers,  lona. 
"O'Halloran,  vol.  Sd. 


110  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [6th  Cent ury, 

purity  of  the  apostolic  church,  the  forms  of  the  Christian  wor- 
ship in  Ireland  were  still  comparatively  primitive.  So  attached 
were  tlie  Irish  to  those  forms,  and  so  averse  to  the  introduction  of 
new  and  foreign  observances,  that  wlien  St.  Patrick  carried  on  his 
missionary  labors,  "  he  neither,  in  all  the  time,  hinted  at  a  foreign 
supremacy  ;  nor  did  he  attempt  to  change  their  established  cus- 
toms ;  and  provided  religion  was  not  materially  hurt,  he  passed 
over  small  things."  "  It  is  certain,"  says  the  same  writer,  "  that 
before,  during,  and  for  two  centuries  after  his  death,  the  Irish 
church  adhered  most  strictly  to  the  Asiatic  churches  in  their  time 
of  celebrating  the  feast  of  Easter."'  Hence  the  differences  which 
certainly  existed  between  the  Irish  and  Romish  churches  up  to  the 
sixth  century. 

That  the  churches  planted  by  Columba  must  have  adopted  a  sys- 
tem of  government  still  differing  from  the  Irish,  is  evident  from  the 
fact,  that  he  was  virtually  excised  from  all  communion  with  them; 
and  averted  the  formal  sentence  of  an  excommunication,  by  depart- 
ing under  a  promise  solemnly  given,  never  to  return.  Although  of 
no  higher  order  himself,  than  a  monk,  he  ordained  others  to  preach 
the  Gospel,  who,  in  their  turn,  ordained  their  successors  to  the 
ministerial  office;  and  this  line  of  succession  was  contitmed  for 
many  centuries.  The  sect  of  the  Culdees  has  been  traced  in  the 
west  of  Scotland,  to  a  period  when  the  light  of  reformation  reach- 
ed those  remote  and  but  partially  civilized  corners  of  the  British 
Isle.  Their  missionary  labors  for  several  centuries  after  the  days 
of  Columba,  extended  over  considerable  portions  of  Scotland,  Eng- 
land, Wales,  and  Ireland. 

Doddridge  states,  on  the  authority  of  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  His- 
tory, that  "  In  the  year  G68,  the  successors  of  Austin  being  almost 
extinct  in  England,  by  far  the  greater  part  of  the  bishops  were  of 
Scottish  ordination,  by  Aidan  and  Finan,  who  came  out  of  the  Cul- 
dee  monastery;  and  were  nothing  more  than  presbyters,  hut  were 
made  bishops  by  the  northern  princes  whom  they  converted." — 
Baxter  contirms  this  statement,  and  says,  "  The  ordination  of  bish- 
ops by  Scottish  presbyters  never  was  objected  to." 

Five  hundred  years  had  expired  since  the  days  of  the  last  of  the 
apostles.  The  Church  had  gone  through  many  changes  in  its  doc- 
trines, its  forms  of  worship,  and  government.  Revolutions  in  em- 
pires liad  occurred  ;  and  old  dynasties  had  been  swept  away.  But 
through  all  these  mutations  in  the  Church,  and  in  the  political  af- 
fairs of  nations,  there  was  one  power  advancing  onward  to  univer- 
sal dominion,  with  an  unfaltering  step,  and  with  a  vigilance  that 
never  slumbered.  Whilst  century  after  century  passed  on,  the 
prize  seemed  almost  within  its  grasp;  but  at  the  termination  of  the 
sixth  century  that  object  had  not  been  attained.  The  bearer  of  the 
cross,  who  was  also  the  aspirant  to  a  crown,  had  an  equal  and  a 

'  O'Halloran's  Ireland. 


jf  ^th  century.]  the  church  op  christ.  Ill 

rival,  who  disregarded  his  pretensions,  contemned  his  menaces,  and 
prescribed  limits  to  his  usurpations.  The  patriarch  of  tlic  East 
was  not  inferior  in  dignities  and  honors,  and  in  his  spiritual  prerog- 
atives to  the  pontiff  of  the  West.  In  their  contest  for  pre-eminence, 
they  were  equally  ambitious ;  equally  overbearing  and  audacious ; 
equally  unscrupulous  of  the  means  for  the  accom[)lishment  of  their 
purposes.  Their  contests  were  carried  on  with  equal  animosity ; 
.  and  with  a  total  disregard,  on  both  sides,  of  the  dictates  of  reason 
and  of  humanity,  and  of  the  precepts  of  religion.  By  their  lofty 
pretensions  and  uncompromising  spirit,  they  disturbed  the  peace  of 
society,  and  occasioned  a  schism  in  the  Christian  Church  which 
has  descended  to  the  present  age,  unhealed  and  irreparable. 

Whilst  these  spiritual  potentates  were  contending  lor  supremacy 
in  the  Christian  Church,  and  corrupting  the  purity  of  its  religion, 
another  enemy,  but  more  open  and  avowed,  to  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ,  appeared  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia ;  who  proclaimed,  that 
"  he  was  commissioned  by  God  to  destroy  polytheism  and  idolatry  ; 
to  reform  first  the  religion  of  the  Arabians,  and  then  to  purify  the 
Jewish  and  Christian  worship.  This  was  Mohammed.  The  dis- 
sentions  and  divisions  existing  in  the  Christian  Church,  encouraged 
his  undertaking,  and  facilitated  his  progress.  The  world  was  des- 
tined to  see  a  pontiff  in  Rome,  a  patriarch  in  Constantinople,  and 
a  prophet  in  Medina,  each  claimmg  to  be  the  sole  depositary  of 
the  true  faith,  and  the  right  to  exercise  the  "highest  spiritual  and 
temporal  jurisdiction  over  the  faithful;  and  to  witness,  in  time,  con- 
tentions for  the  succession;  in  the  Christian  Church,  to  the  apos- 
ship  ;  and  in  the  Mohammedan,  to  the  caliphat ;  equally  bitter,  vin- 
dictive, and  intolerant. 

Some  of  the  popish  writers,  on  the  authority  of  Baronius  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  afhrm,  that  Phocas,  the  emperor  of  Constantino- 
ple, conceded  to  Boniface  III.  the  title  of  Universal  Bisliop.  This 
is  generally  believed  however,  to  be  a  very  questionable  authority  ; 
not  only  from  the  silence  of  all  previous  ecclesiastical  writers,  but 
from  the  well  known  unfaithfulness  of  Baronius,  and  from  his  big- 
oted attachment  for  the  Romish  church.  Phocas,  it  is  true,  had 
usurped  the  throne  by  the  murder  of  the  reigning  emperor,  iNIauri- 
tius,  and  was  a  prince  of  abandoned  character;  and  therefore, 
might  easily  have  been  induced  to  confer  this  distinction  on  the  Ro- 
man pontiff,  by  bribery  and  indulgences,  to  gratify  his  rapacity  and 
to  quiet  the  compunctions  of  his  conscience.  Upon  this  supposi- 
tion only,  rests  the  probability  of  this  concession.  But  upon  a  sup- 
position, strengthened  by  the  well  known  ambition  of  Boniface,  and 
the  avarice  and  profligacy  of  Phocas,  and  without  a  shadow  of  evi- 
dence, the  popish  church  has  advanced  this  pretended  concession 
to  the  bishop  of  Rome  as  an  indisputable  admission  of  his  rightful 
supremacy  over  the  universal  Church  of  Christ.  This  concession 
nevertheless,  made  by  a  cruel  and  abandoned  tyrant,  if  made  in 


112  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [6tli  ccntury. 

fact,  has  been  assumed  as  a  foundation  upon  which  the  temporal 
power  of  the  popes  is  supposed  to  have  been  erected. 

Another  fraudulent  attempt  to  impose  upon  the  Christian  world, 
the  belief  that  Constantine  Pogonatus,  voluntarily  yielded  to  the 
Roman  pontiff  the  right  which  the  emperors  had  uniformly  exer- 
cised from  the  days  of  Constantine  the  Great,  of  confirming  the 
elections  of  the  bishops  of  that  see,  was  made  in  the  ninth  century 
by  Anaslasius,  the  Historian.  He  says,  that  by  an  edict,  Pogona- 
tus  directed  "the  immediate  ordination  of  a  pontiff  after  his  elec- 
tion;" and  hence  it  has  been  inferred  that  the  spiritual  indepen- 
dence of  the  popes  was  thereby  established.  It  is  not  known  upon 
what  authority  the  historian  advanced  his  statement ;  and  although 
he  might  have  been  correct  as  to  the  fact  of  the  publication  of  an 
edict,  it  is  certain  that  the  ordination  of  the  pontiffs  was  long  after 
this  century,  suspended  until  the  formal  assent  of  the  emperors  had 
been  obtained. 

But  the  statement  of  Anastasius  is  directly  contradicted  by  the 
historical  records  of  the  times.  This  right  of  confirming  the  elec- 
tions of  the  Roman  bishops,  although  absolutely  vested  in  the  em- 
perors as  the  controlling  heads  of  the  Church,  had  been  delegated 
by  the  predecessors  of  Pogonatus  to  the  exarchs  of  Ravenna,  re- 
sumable  at  their  will.  The  exarchs,  in  the  exercise  of  this  right, 
acted  as  the  representatives  of  the  emperors,  and  subservient  to 
their  dictation;  so  that  the  mere  exercise  of  the  right,  was  for  the 
time,  ostensibly  in  these  vrceroys  of  the  empire,  but  was  an  appur- 
tenant to  the  crown.  So  far  then  from  this  right  having  been  aban- 
doned by  Constantine  Pogonatus,  as  stated  by  Anastasius,  he  re- 
sumed the  exercise  of  that  right  in  his  own  person,  divesting  the 
exarchs  of  their  delegated  power;  and  by  his  edict  declared,  that 
"  The  bishop  elect  should  not  be  ordained  until  his  election  had  been 
notified  to  the  court  of  Constantinople,  and  the  imperial  decree 
confirming  it,  was  received  by  the  electors  at  Rome."  The  only 
indulgence  or  privilege  which  appears  to  have  been  extended  to 
the  pontiff  by  the  emperor  in  this  edict,  was  "  an  abatement  of  the 
sum,  which,  since  the  time  of  Theodoric,  the  bishops  of  Rome  had 
been  obliged  to  pay  to  the  imperial  treasury,  before  they  could  be 
ordained,  or  have  their  election  confirmed." 

The  authentic  histories  of  this  age  incontestably  prove,  that  the 
ecclesiastical  orders,  and  indeed  the  whole  Church,  were  entirely 
under  the  government  and  the  arbitrary  control  of  the  emperors. 
All  their  acts  were  subject  to  their  inspection  and  reversal.  They 
in  effect  exalted  to  the  highest  dignities  and  preferments  whom 
they  pleased  ;  and  the  power  of  deposing  from  the  highest  stations, 
cither  in  the  state  or  in  the  church,  was  exercised  by  them  at  their 
pleasure.  The  sul)ordination,  both  of  the  patriarch  and  tlie  pon- 
tiff, to  the  civil  authorities,  cannot  be  (jucstioned  ;  and  the  temj)or- 
al  prince  ])laced  in  the  succession  to  the  apostolic  seat  the  candi- 


7th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  113 

date  whom  he  approved.  The  ambitious  pretensions  of  those  spir- 
itual lords  were  repeatedly  in  this  century  opposed  and  defeated, 
not  only  by  the  emperors,  but  by  the  subordinate  princes  of  the 
empire. 

Notwithstanding  the  entire  subservience  of  the  ecclesiastical  to 
the  civil  power,  the  Roman  pontitis  never  relaxed  in  their  energies, 
and  in  their  etlbrts  to  enlarge  and  strengthen  their  jurisdiction. 
Whatever  new  privileges  tliey  obtained  by  fraud  and  cunning,  or 
by  the  voluntary  indulgence  of  a  weak  or  indolent  empferor,  they 
tenaciously  secured.  Each  preceding  century  had  beheld  them 
continually  advancing  in  power.  Each  succeeding  century,  from 
this  period,  witnessed  an  increasing  accession  of  prerogatives;  un- 
til the  highest  hopes  of  their  ambition  were  realized,  and  they  be- 
came ^'  the  masters  of  the  world." 

The  unmeaning,  but  angry  controversy  on  the  hypostatical  union 
of  two  natures  in  Christ,  which  had  created  dissensions  and  fatal 
schisms  in  the  Church  during  the  last  century,  was  renewed  in  this. 
The  Nestorians  and  the  Monophysites  had  withdrawn  from  the 
Greek  empire,  and  settled ;  the  former  in  Persia  and  the  latter  in 
Syria  and  Egypt.  They  established  flourishing  churches  in  those 
countries.  Mohammed  and  his  successors  protected  the  Nestori- 
ans; and  there  is  still  existing  an  instrument  of  writing  which  has 
been  imposed  upon  the  world  as  the  Testament  of  that  prophet, 
securing  to  that  Christian  sect,  the  enjoyment  of  their  religion  and 
their  temporal  rights. 

About  the  year  630,  another  sect  arose,  known  as  the  Monothe- 
^rites.^  These  sprung  out  of  and  were  properly  a  branch  from  the 
Eutychians ;  so  far  as  their  confused  jargon  can  be  understood,  they 
main<ained  that  with  regard  to  the  two  natures  in  Christ,  there 
were  two  wills.  But  by  reason  of  the  intimate  union  of  those  two 
natures,  there  was  in  fact,  but  one  will  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  one 
operation  of  the  mind.  The  emperor  was  persuaded,  that  if  the 
doctrine  of  "  one  will  and  one  operation  in  Christ,"  were  received 
by  the  Greek  Church,  the  differences  existing  between  the  discord- 
ant sects  which  had  created  such  unfortunate  schisms,  might  be  re- 
conciled. To  avert  the  evils  which  had  arisen  from  the  emigra- 
tions out  of  the  empire,  he  accordingly  published  an  edict  in  the 
year  630,  in  which  he  sustained  that  doctrine;  and  believed  that 
no  further  controversy  would  arise,  and  that  peace  would  be  re- 
stored. This  edict  was  at  first  received  favorably.  The  patri- 
archs of  Antioch  and  of  Alexandria  assented  to  the  doctrine.  The 
opinion  of  the  Roman  pontiff  was  not  consulted ;  as  this  question 
was  one  in  which  the  Eastern  church  was  more  particularly  inter- 

'The  terms  which  have  been  used  as  the  distingruishing  lilies  of  the  different  seals, 
explain  moro  concisely  their  respective  doctrines.  In  the  Greek,  from  which  they 
are  derived,  Monophysite  means  munos,  single,  and  ;»/n(S-is,  nature.  Monothelile, 
monos,  single;  and  Ihclema,  will.     Eulycliian,  from  Kutyches,  ihe  founder  oi'iho  sect. 

8 


114  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [7th  centuiy. 

ested.  A  council  at  Alexandria  confirmed  it  by  a  solemn  decree  ; 
and  the  prospects  of  harmony  in  the  Church  became  still  more  flat- 
tering, by  the  voluntary  return  into  the  empire,  of  many  of  those 
sects  who  had  left  it  on  account  of  the  religious  differences  which 
had  disturbed  the  public  peace.  But  the  controversy  was  not  long 
after  renewed ;  and  the  breach  was  widened  by  the  condemnation 
of  the  Monothelites  by  a  patriarchal  council  at  Jerusalem,  and  the 
imputation  of  heresy  to  their  doctrines.  Honorius  I.,  who  then  oc- 
cupied the  papal  chair,  seconded  the  views  of  the  emperor,  and 
sustained  the  doctrine,  that  "  in  Jesus  Christ  there  was,  after  the 
union  of  the  two  natures,  but  one  will  and  one  operation."  In  his 
judgment  on  this  question,  he  appears  to  have  been  guided  by  the 
influence  of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople.  To  silence  the  ob- 
jections which  liad  thus  excited  fresh  dissensions  in  the  Church, 
another  edict^  was  published  by  the  emperor  in  the  year  639,  re- 
affirming the  doctrine  of  "  one  will ;"  and  forbidding  any  further 
controversy  on  the  subject.  John  IV.,  who  was  now  in  the  chair 
of  St.  Peter,  summoned  a  council  in  Rome  which  rejected  the  em- 
peror's "  exposition  of  the  faith,"  and  sustained  the  decree  of  the 
council  of  Jerusalem,  by  formally  condemning  the  doctrine  of  "  one 
will  and  one  operation."  The  current  of  public  opinion  seemed  to 
have  been  changed  ;  and  what  had  been  declared  by  all  the  churches, 
except  that  of  Jerusalem,  to  be  orthodox  in  635,  was  almost  uni- 
versally, in  648,  pronounced  heretical.  In  that  year,  Constans, 
who  had  succeeded  to  the  imperial  throne,  formally  revoked^  the 
edict  of  Heraclius,  and  commanded  the  parties  to  terminate  the 
controversy.  This  measure,  which  seemed  to  have  been  dictated 
by  wisdom  and  Christian  forbearance,  failed  to  produce  the  desired 
result.  The  Roman  pontiff,  Martin  I.,  in  the  following  year,  in  a 
council  of  one  hundred  and  five  bishops,  assembled  in  Rome,  con- 
demned the  several  edicts  of  the  two  emperors,  Heraclius  and 
Constans,  and  "  thundered  out  the  most  dreadful  anathemas  against 
the  Monothelites  and  their  patrons,  whom  they  solemnly  consigned 
to  the  devil  and  his  angels." 

For  this  presum[)tuous  act,  Constans  ordered  Martin  to  be  arrest- 
ed and  transported  to  Naxos,  an  island  in  the  Grecian  Archipelago, 
v/here  he  was  detained  a  ])risoner,  and  an  exile  from  his  see,  for 
the  period  of  twelve  months.  The  exarch  of  Italy,  who  was  com- 
missioned to  execute  the  sentence  against  the  pontiff,  is  charged 
with  having  exercised  an  undue  severity  in  the  disciiarge  of  this 
duty.  The  monks  had  urged  the  pontiff  to  the  inconsiderate  and 
dangerous  measure  he  had  adojited,  in  his  opposition  to  the  imperial 
formulary,  as  the  injunction  of  silence  which  it  imposed  upon  the 
controversialists,  deprived  them  of  the  means  of  disturbing  the 
peace  of  the  Church,  and  exciting  contentions  and  discord,  to  which 

•Called  "  the  Ectliesis." 

-By  an  edict,  termed  "  the  Type,"'  or  "  Formulary." 


7Ui  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  115 

their  indolent  habits  peculiarly  disposed  them.  These  also  were 
the  objects  of  the  emperor's  vengeance,  who  inflicted  exemplary 
and  merited  punishment  upon  those  who  were  the  principal  agents 
in  the  measures  of  defiance  against  his  authority. 

In  the  year  680  the  sixth  ecumenical  council  was  convened  at 
Constantinople,  by  the  emperor  Constantine  Pogonatus.  In  this 
council  the  doctrines  of  the  Monothelites  were  condemned  as  her- 
etical ;  and  Honorius,  wlio  was  then  dead,  was  included  by  name 
in  this  sentence  of  condemnation.  The  legates  of  the  reigning 
pope,  Agatho,  were  present,  and  confirmed  by  their  assent  tlie  va- 
lidity of  this  decree.  If  then,  the  infallibility  of  this  general  coun- 
cil dictated  a  righteous  and  just  judgment  against  Honorius,  what 
conclusion  are  we  to  draw  as  to  the  nature  of  that  heresy  for  which 
he,  an  equally  infallible  head  of  tlie  Church,  was  anathematized  ? 
This  would  be  a  metaphysical  question  that  might  profitably  em- 
ploy the  time  and  talents  of  the  learned  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne, 
in  its  solution. 

Another  council  was  assembled  in  the  year  692,  which  has  been 
considered  as  a  supplement  to  the  two  preceding  councils  held  in 
the  same  city;  one  in  the  year  553,  and  the  other  in  680.  This 
has  been  called  the  "  Council  in  Trullo,"  or  Cupola,  from  the  form 
of  the  building ;  and  was  convened  by  the  order  of  Justinian  II. 
The  decrees  of  this  council  are  received  by  the  universal  church, 
as  of  equal  authority  with  the  decrees  of  any  other  of  the  ecumen- 
ical councils  convened  in  this  or  in  any  subsequent  age.  But  the 
Papal  church  has  undertaken,  by  its  own  authority,  to  rescind  six 
of  its  canons,  which  were  directly  opposed  to  its  rites  and  obser- 
vances ;  and  one  particularly  which  admitted  the  equal  rank  and 
authority  of  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople  with  the  pontiff  of 
Rome.  The  canon  which  allows  the  marriage  of  priests;  that 
which  condemns  the  Sabbath  fast  instituted  by  the  Latin  church  ; 
that  which  prescribes  the  most  rigid  abstinence  from  blood  and 
things  strangled  ;  that  which  prohibits  the  representing  Christ  un- 
der the  image  of  a  lamb ;  and  that  which  approves  of  the  eighty- 
five  apostolic  canons  of  Clement;  have  all  been  erased  from  the 
canonical  register  of  the  Romish  church. 

The  history  of  that  church,  shows  that  it  has  been  the  practice, 
not  only  of  the  ecclesiastical  body,  but  of  the  writers  belonging  to 
it,  from  the  earliest  ages,  to  mutilate  the  records  of  ecumenical  and 
other  councils,  by  erasures  or  interpolations,  with  a  view  of  adapt- 
ing them  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies,  to  the  doctrines  and  govern- 
ment, which  have  been  established  by  it.  Tiie  works  of  those  wri- 
ters themselves,  have  been  defaced  and  corrupted  by  those  of  a 
more  modern  date,  to  give  to  their  opinions  an  appearance  of  co- 
incidence with  the  more  recent  forms  and  doctrines  of  the  Church.' 
Such  disfigured  and  forged  copies  of  the  canonical  registers,  and 

'Daille,  on  the  Fathers. 


116  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [7th  century. 

of  the  works  of  the  ancient  writers,  are  now  unblushingly  referred 
to,  to  confirm  the  pretension  openly  professed  of  the  great  an- 
tiquity of  its  observances,  and  to  establish  its  claims  to  infalli- 
bility. 

The  attempts  of  Zosimus,  of  Boniface,  and  of  Leo,  in  the  fifth 
century,  to  impose  forged  canons  of  the  council  of  Nice  upon  the 
world,  and  which  were  at  once  detected  and  exposed,  have  been 
mentioned,  Dionysius  Exiguus,  in  the  sixth  century,  published 
what  he  promised  should  be  a  correct  and  faithful  digest  of  all  the 
canons  of  the  several  councils  convened  at  different  periods,  up  to 
his  time.  That  collection  has  been  republished  more  recently  in 
Paris,  "  by  permission  of  his  most  catholic  majesty,"  and  is  re- 
ferred to,  as  of  the  highest  authority,  by  the  popish  church,  in  all 
ecclesiastical  matters  embraced  by  it.  Notwithstanding  this  high 
authority  which  has  been  attached  to  it,  the  innumerable  omissions 
of  important  canons  which  have  been  discovered  throughout  that 
work,  and  the  false  statements  it  contains,  must  destroy  its  charac- 
ter of  authenticity,  with  all  who  are  in  search  of  a  correct  history 
of  the  Church  before  the  sixth  century.  In  his  transcript  of  the 
canons  of  the  council  at  Laodicea,  he  has  inserted  only  a  part  of 
that  which  prescribed  to  the  universal  church,  what  books  of  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments  should  be  received  as  canonical,  omitting 
that  part  of  it  which  proscribed  the  books  of  the  Maccabees ;  of 
the  wisdom  of  Solomon;  of  Ecclesiasticus ;  of  Tobit;  of  Judith, 
&c.,  which  books  the  Pope,  Innocent  I.,  had  declared  to  be  canon- 
ical. The  sixth  canon  of  the  council  of  Constantinople,  A.  D.  381, 
vested  in  the  provincial  diocesan  synods,  the  power  of  an  absolute 
judgment  in  the  trial  and  deposition  of  bishops;  as  this  was  a  posi- 
tive abnegation  of  any  right  of  jurisdiction  in  the  matter,  in  the 
bishop  of  Rome,  Dionysius  has  accordingly  omitted  it.  The  eighth 
canon  of  the  council  of  Ephesus,  A.  D.  431^  admitting  the  power 
of  the  subordinate  bishops  of  Cyprus  to  ordain  each  other,  to  the 
exclusion  of  the  patriarch  of  Antioch;  has  also  been  excluded  from 
the  collection,  as  it  militated  against  the  prerogatives  of  the  pri- 
mates of  the  Church.^ 

The  writings  of  Cyprian  of  the  third  century,  have  received  no 
better  favor  from  these  "  mischievous  knaves,''^  as  they  have  been 
called  by  Laurentius,  in  his  "decrees  of  the  Galilean  church." 
From  these  have  been  expunged  whatever  admissions  have  been 
found  in  them  of  the  people  participating  in  the  regulation  and  gov- 
ernment of  the  affairs  of  the  Church.  But  it  is  beyond  my  limits 
to  multiply  examples.  The  history  of  the  Church  is  full  of  these 
piratical  depredations.  These  fraudulent  corruptions  of  the  wri- 
tings of  the  fathers,  have  not  only  embraced  entire  pages,  but  have 
descended  to  sentences,  and  sometimes  to  words,  as  the  change  of 

'Daillc,  on  the  right  use  of  the  Fathers. 

-  "  Vae,  itcruni  vao,  ut  cum  Vidcntc  exclamcm,  Ae6uioJu&us,"  &c. 


7  th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  117 

Petram,  a  rock,  into  Petrum,  the  apostle ;  of  Papa  Urbis,  the  bish- 
op of  a  city,  into  Papa  Orbis,  tlie  bishop  of  the  world.  Where 
Augustine,  writing-  on  the  eucharist,  remarks  of  the  elements,  "  This 
is  a  figure;"  some  modern  interpolator,  to  give  an  appearance  of 
antiquity  to  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  has  inserted,  "  a  her- 
etic will  say ;"  and  would  impose  the  belief  that  this  was  tlie  doc- 
trine of  the  fourth  century,  although  it  is  well  established,  that  it 
was  not  an  article  of  faith  before  the  thirteenth  century,  under  the 
pontificate  of  Innocent  III.,  and  first  made  so  by  the  twelfth  gener- 
al council  (fourth  of  Lateran,)  in  Rome. 

The  historians  of  tliis  age  concur  in  their  representations  of  the 
entire  depravity  of  morals  which  prevailed,  not  only  among  the 
peojjle,  but  also  among  the  clergy.  "  In  the  places  consecrated  to 
the  advancement  of  piety,  and  the  service  of  God,  there  was  little 
else  to  be  seen  than  ghostly  ambition,  insatiable  avarice,  pious 
frauds,  intolerable  pride,  and  a  supercilious  contempt  of  the  natural 
rights  of  the  people.  Neither  bishops,  presbyters,  deacons,  nor 
even  the  cloistered  monks,  were  exempt  from  the  general  conta- 
gion." '  With  this  general  corruption  of  morals,  an  era  of  mental 
darkness  was  approaching,  and  the  cultivation  of  letters  began  to 
be  neglected.     This  age  presents  i'ew  writers  of  distinction. 

Besides  the  contest  still  carried  on  with  obstinacy  and  bitterness, 
between  the  heads  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  churches,  whose 
sole  object  was  pre-eminence  of  rank;  the  subordinate  bishops  and 
monks  were  engaged  in  an  angry  warfare,  which  produced  dissen- 
sensions  in  the  bosom  of  the  Cliurch,  and  destroyed  the  principles 
of  vital  religion  in  the  heart.  The  monks  had  ministered  to  the 
extravagance  and  luxury  and  to  the  sensual  indulgences  of  the  bish- 
ops, by  exactions  from  the  people.  But  unable  to  satisfy  their  un- 
ceasing and  exorbitant  demands,  these  indolent  ecclesiastics,  not 
less  corrupt  than  their  superiors,  resorted  to  the  pontitis  for  relief. 
The  pontifis,  themselves  as  depraved  as  they  were  ambitious,  re- 
ceived them  as  efficient  instruments  by  whom  the  no  less  aspiring 
bishops  might  be  controlled.  This  coalition  between  the  pontiffs 
and  tfie  monks,  procured  in  time,  for  the  monastic  orders,  a  conces- 
sion of  privileges  from  tlie  episcopal  power,  which  was  in  the  end 
productive  of  the  most  serious  evils  to  societ3^ 

In  this  century,  Boniface  V.  constituted  the  places  of  public  wor- 
ship, asylums  for  fugitives  from  justice.  The  churches  tiius  con- 
verted into  sanctunries  for  the  protection  of  the  most  abandoned 
malefactors,  as  the  heathen  temples^iad  been,  acquired  a  character 
of  sanctity  with  the  superstitious,  and  imparted  to  the  clergy  a  re- 
ligious reverence  and  awe. 

As  wealth  accumulated  in  the  Church,  and  ignorance  became 
more  deeply  rooted  in  the  people,  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  pub- 
lic worship  multiplied,  and  were  observed  with  increased  solemni- 
'Moshoim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  7th  century. 


118  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [7th  ccntury. 

ties.  The  sacerdotal  vestments  were  richly  ornamented,  and  the 
whole  religious  service  was  conducted  under  forms  the  most  seduc- 
tive and  imposing. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  successors  of  Columba  in  Scotland,  propagated  the  gos- 
pel, not  only  on  the  British  isles,  but  many  nations  on  the  continent, 
as  the  Suevi,  the  Franks,  the  Frieslanders,  (Holland,)  &c.  were 
converted  to  Christianity  by  their  missionary  labors.  The  churches 
established  by  them  among  those  savage  tribes,  were  early  induced 
to  conform  with  the  Romish  church,  in  their  rites,  ceremonies,  and 
government.  The  pontiffs  erected  amongst  them  episcopal  dio- 
ceses; and  one  of  the  missionaries  was  ordained  arch-bishop  of 
Wilteberg,  (Utrecht,)  and  remained  in  his  episcopal  charge  until 
his  death. 

But  the  churches  of  Scotland  long  preserved  their  ecclesiastical 
independence ;  and  were  therefore  not  contaminated  by  the  super- 
stitions of  popery.  For  many  ages  after,  they  maintained  their  own 
peculiar  government  and  religious  observances. 

At  this  period  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope,  as  may  clearly  be  de- 
duced from  history,  was  not  fully  established,  either  in  Gaul  or 
Spain.  Even  in  Italy  itself,  his  authority  was  disputed  by  many  of 
the  pious  and  devout  of  the  clergy ;  by  some  of  the  bishops,  and 
by  the  more  enlightened  portion  of  the  people.  "  The  bishop  of 
Ravenna,  and  other  prelates  refused  an  implicit  submission  to  his 
orders."  The  doctrine  of  divine  right  was  evidently  not  the  uni- 
versally received  doctrine  even  in  the  Western  church. 

The  last  and  the  present  century,  whose  history  we  are  now  tra- 
cing, were  prolific  of  angry  and  obstinate  discussions  on  doctrinal 
points.  The  intolerant  spirit  with  which  these  controversies  were 
conducted,  drove  out  of  the  East,  as  out  of  the  West,  great  num- 
bers of  those,  wdio,  opposed  by  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  powers, 
became  the  objects  of  persecution.  The  schism  produced  by  the 
pusillanimity  of  Vigilius,  and  the  withdrawal  of  the  bishops  of 
Africa  and  Illyricum,  and  of  many  of  the  western  bishops,  from 
communion  with  the  Romish  church,  must  have  driven  beyond  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  pontic's,  many  who  were  disaffected  towards  the 
government  and  doctrines  of  that  church.  At  this  period,  or  in 
the  middle  of  the  sixth  century,  and  afterward,  as  those  controver- 
sies were  renewed,  it  has  l)cen  supposed  that  settlements  were 
made  in  the  valleys  of  Piediiiont,  into  whose  secluded  retreats 
those  who  were  thus  disaffected  retired  for  the  peaceable  and  qui- 
et enjoyment  of  their  religious  rights  and  privileges.  There  can 
be  no  doubt,  that  from  this  date  or  the  year  553,  a  community  of 
Christians  may  be  traced,  who  in  those  valleys,  preserved  the  pure 
worship  of  God ;  and  transmitted  through  their  descendants  to  fu- 
ture ages,  the  rites,  government,  and  doctrines  of  a  cliurch  distinct 


7th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  119 

from  and  independent  of  the  Popish  church  of  Rome.  These  are 
known  in  the  history  of  the  Church  of  Christ,  many  centuries  af- 
ter this  period,  as  the  Waldenses,  or  people  of  the  valleys;  and 
formed  a  celebrated  body  of  Protestant  dissenters  in  the  middle 
ages.^ 

In  the  middle  of  this  century,  probably  earlier,  the  Paulicians  in 
Asia-Minor  began  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  Christian  world. 
How  long  before  this  period  they  existed  as  a  party  is  not  certain- 
ly known.  MosIie,im  says,  that  "  Constantine  revived  the  droop- 
ing faction  in  the  reign  of  Constans,  which  was  now  ready  to  ex- 
pire." Constans  II.  reigned  from  the  year  641  to  668,  from  whic!i 
w^e  may  infer,  that  it  had,  some  time  before  this,  exerted  an  influ- 
ence which  was  now  on  the  decline.  What  connection  there  was, 
if  any,  between  this  sect  and  that  of  the  Novatians  is  not  certainly 
known;  but  the  coincidence  of  their  having  been  a  flourishing  par- 
ty in  the  provinces  of  Asia,  which  had  been  the  seats  of  the  Nova- 
tian  churches,  would  seem  to  give  a  degree  of  plausibility  at  least 
to  the  conjecture  that  one  was  but  the  revival  of  the  other  under  a 
new  name.  The  popish  writers  have  traced  their  origin  from  the 
Manichaeans  in  the  latter  part  of  the  third  century;  which  was  the 
period  when  the  Novatians  began  to  extend  their  churches  through- 
out the  Roman  empire.  As  to  the  charge  alledged  against  them  of 
maintaining  the  doctrines  of  that  branch  of  the  Gnostics,  Gibbon 
has  stated,  that  "  they  sincerely  condemned  the  memory  and  opin- 
ions of  the  Manichffian  sect,  and  complained  of  the  injustice  which 
impressed  that  invidious  name  on  the  simple  votaries  of  St.  Paul 
and  of  Christ."  The  writer  on  "  the  Middle  Ages"  has  also  vin- 
dicated their  character  from  the  aspersions  of  the  papists,  by  say- 
ing, that  "  There  is  every  reason  to  suppose  the  Paulicians,  not- 
withstanding their  mistakes,  were  endowed  with  sincere  and  zeal- 
ous ])iety,  and  studious  of  the  ScrijMures."  The  imputation  of  the 
papists  against  them  can  have  no  weight  with  those  who  know  the 
uniform  character  of  the  writers  of  the  Romish  church.  Their 
misrepresentations  on  this  subject  are  only  in  consistency  with  an 
established  principle  of  popery,  and  an  article  of  faith,  drawn  from 
a  maxim  of  the  Platonists  and  the  Pythagoreans,  that  "  It  is  not 
only  lawful,  but  even  praiseworthy  to  deceive,  and  even  to  use  the 
expedient  of  a  lie,  in  order  to  advance  the  cause  of  truth  and  pie- 
ty.". This  cause  the  papists  identify  with  the  Romish  church; 
and  have  directed  the  force  of  that  maxim  to  sustain  the  power  and 
interests  of  that  clmrch;  and  they  have  been  exceedingly  ingenious 
in  every  age,  in  attaching  reproach  to  the  dissenters  who  have  at- 
tempted to  reform  its  abuses  and  corruptions. 

Constantine^  of  Samosata,  in  Syria,  having  received  a  copy  of 
the  New  Testament,  devoted  his  time  to  the  study  of  the  Christian 

'See  chronological  table,  A.  D.  314. 

"He  was  a  native  of  Mananalis,  near  Samosata. 


120  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [7th  ccntury, 

doctrines.  At  this  early  period  it  appears  that  the  people  were 
prohibited  from  reading  the  Holy  Scriptures.  Constantine  received 
his  copy  from  the  hands  of  a  deacon.  The  Epistles  of  Paul  par- 
ticularly attracted  his  attention,  and  were  the  subjects  of  his  most 
devoted  meditations.  From  this  source  he  seems  to  have  drawn 
his  religious  creed.  He  rejected  the  second  Epistle  of  Peter,  and 
the  Apocalypse.  He  adopted  the  name  of  Sylvanus,  from  the  dis- 
ciple who  accompanied  Paul  when  he  visited  the  churches  of  Syria 
and  Cilicia.  His  own  disciples  assumed,  in  imitation,  the  names 
of  those  disciples  mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  as  more  immediately 
connected  with  that  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  in  the  propagation  of 
the  gospel,  and  the  planting  of  the  primitive  churches  in  Asia.  Ti- 
tus, Timothy,  Tychicus,  &c.,  were  the  distinguishing  titles  of  his 
early  and  zealous  followers ;  and  his  congregations  severally  as- 
sumed the  names  of  the  Apostolic  churches.  They  abjured  the 
w^orship  of  idols ;  rejected  relics ;  attached  no  religious  reverence 
to  the  visible  cross ;  received  the  bread  and  wine  in  the  commu- 
nion, as  symbols  of  grace ;  refused  to  render  to  the  Virgin  Mary 
the  worship  due  to  Christ;  and  in  fine,  abolished  all  adoration  of 
sensible  objects.  They  rejected  the  Old  Testament,  with  which 
they  were  probably  little  acquainted  ;  and  entertained  peculiar  no- 
tions on  the  incarnation  of  Christ  and  his  impassibility  on  the  cross. 
They  abolished  all  distinctions  of  orders  in  the  priesthood ;  reject- 
ing the  title  of  presbyter  and  elder,  because  it  was  one  known  in 
the  Jewish  synagogue. 

Petrus  Seculus,  who  was  sent  by  Basilius,  the  Macedonian,  as  an 
ambassador  to  Tibrica,  to  propose  an  exchange  of  prisoners  in  the 
year  870,  has  charged  them  with  maintaining  in  their  religious 
creed  the  existence  of  two  deities ;  one,  evil,  and  the  creator  of  the 
world ;  the  other,  good,  and  the  author  of  that  which  is  to  come. 
Whether  this  doctrine,  and  the  peculiar  notions  with  respect  to  the 
incarnation  of  Christ  and  his  impassibility,  were  entertained  by 
them  as  a  sect,  is  questionable.  The  affirmative  is  sustained  on  the 
authority  of  Petrus  Seculus,  who  was  a  bigoted  religionist,  and  a 
prejudiced  witness;  and  his  opinion  should  be  rejected  as  unworthy 
of  belief.  He  was  an  enemy  and  a  persecutor  of  the  Paulicians.^ 
We  are  moreover  informed  by  history,  that  the  remnants  of  the 
Gnostic  sects,  particularly  of  the  Manicha^ans,  alike  the  objects  of 
persecution,  united  themselves  with  Constantine  Sylvanus  and  his 
followers;  and  hence,  no  doubt,  the  imputation  of  Manichaiism 
which  has  been  attaclicd  to  them  by  the  papists,  but  for  which 
they  have  no  other  testimony  than  that  of  their  own  writers. 

The  Paulicians  received  that  title  from  their  avowed  attachment 
to  the  character  and  writings  of  Paul  the  Apostle ;  from  whose 

'As  an  evidence  of  the  bigotry  and  savage  temper  of  Petrus  Seculus,  in  his  ac- 
count of  the  cruelties  inflicted  on  the  Paulicians,  "  Ho  relates  llieir  sufferings,"  saya 
Gibbon,  "  with  satisfaction  and  pleasantry." 


8th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  121 

Epistles  they  drew  directly  their  religious  0})inions.  In  their  ec- 
clesiastical government,  their  ordinances,  and  doctrines,  they  differ- 
ed from  the  Greek,  as  well  as  from  the  Latin  church.  They  were 
therefore,  the  objects  of  cruel  and  relentless  persecution,  from  the 
period  of  their  revival,  in  the  reign  of  Constans,  for  successive  cen- 
turies after,  until  their  final  dispersion  over  the  western  countries 
of  Europe.  In  the  reign  of  Justinian  II.,  who  rivaled  in  cruelty 
Nero  and  Caligula,  they  were  pursued  with  fire  and  sword  ;  and 
their  sufferings  \vere  aggravated  by  every  act  of  barbarity  which 
could  be  devised  by  an  unfeeling  enemy. 

Sylvanus,  himself,  after  a  ministry  of  twenty-seven  years,  was 
cruelly  put  to  death.  "  But  from  the  blood  and  ashes  of  the  first 
victims,"  says  Gibbon,  "a  succession  of  teachers  and  congrega- 
tions successively  arose." 


CHAPTER    VI. 

The  history  of  this  century  is  replete  with  the  most  memorable 
and  important  events,  which  form  a  new  era  in  the  political  affairs 
of  Europe,  and  in  the  Cl\urch. 

In  its  commencement,  the  Eastern  empire  is  presented  to  us  dis- 
tracted by  the  contentions  for  the  sovereignty ;  five  usurpers  hav- 
ing occupied  the  throne  within  the  period  of  twenty-two  years. — 
The  Bulgarii  and  the  Saracens,  taking  advantage  of  these  civil 
wars  and  intestine  commotions,  made  incursions  on  its  provinces, 
and  possessed  themselves  of  many  of  its  cities.  The  exarchate  of 
Ravenna,  which  had  been  an  appendage  of  the  empire,  was  con- 
quered by  Astolphus,  one  of  the  Lombard  kings  of  Italy.  About 
thirty  years  after,  Desiderius,  the  last  of  that  race,  was  in  turn, 
conquered  by  Charlemagne,  who  at  the  close  of  the  century,  estab- 
lished a  new  Western  empire,  and  erected  an  ecclesiastical  state; 
thereby  constituting  the  pope  a  temporal  prince  in  Europe.  Jeru- 
salem had  been  conquered  in  606  by  Omar,  the  successor  of  Mo- 
hammed, and  remained  under  the  government  of  the  Mussulmans. 
In  the  year  712,  Sj)ain  was  conquered  by  the  Saracens. 

These  are  some  of  the  remarkable  events  which  occurred  in 
this  century,  and  which  affected  immediately  or  remotely,  the  in- 
terests of  tlie  Christian  Church. 

A  greater  part  of  Germany  was  yet  pagan;  and  the  Saxons,  who 
were  a  warlike,  and  but  partially  civilized  race,  occupied  the  great- 
er portion  of  that  extensive  country.  By  the  conquests  of  Charle- 
magne, and  the  missionary  exertions  of  the  Papists,  they  were  con- 
verted to  the  faith. 


122  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [8th  century. 

Amid  these  convulsions  and  revolutions  of  states,  as  might  be 
supposed,  the  cause  of  literature,  as  well  as  of  vital  religion,  suf- 
fered. Instruction  was  confined,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  elemen- 
tary branches.  The  disrepute  into  which  the  philosophy  of  Plato 
had  fallen,  by  reason  of  the  false  doctrines  which  had  been  intro- 
duced into  the  Church  and  drawn  from  its  principles,  prepared  the 
public  mind  for  the  introduction  of  the  system  of  Aristotle,  which 
soon  acquired  a  reputation  in  all  the  schools,  and  in  a  short  time 
entirely  supplanted  the  philosophy  of  the  Academics. 

The  conversions  from  paganism,  were  not  so  much  to  the  reli- 
gion of  the  gospel,  as  to  the  superstitious  rites  of  the  Romish 
church ;  and  the  missionaries  who  bore  the  cross  presented  it  as  of 
itself  an  object  of  worship,  and  labored  more  zealously  to  establish 
the  government  of  the  Pope,  than  to  extend  the  spiritual  kingdom 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  distracted  state  of  the  Eastern  empire,  and  the  persecution 
which  was  carried  on  by  the  Saracens  against  the  Christians,  to- 
gether with  the  loss  of  its  Italian  territories,  severally  tended  to 
weaken  the  Greek  church  and  the  influence  of  the  patriarchate  of 
Constantinople.  On  the  other  hand,  the  civil  and  political  changes 
in  the  West,  contributed  to  the  wealth  and  to  the  power  of 'the  Pa- 
pal see. 

By  artifice  and  a  system  of  interference  with  the  temporal  affairs 
of  Europe,  based  upon  the  most  corrupt  and  abandoned  principles, 
the  popes  succeeded  in  securing  to  their  interests,  the  most  power- 
ful princes  of  the  time.  The  Merovingian  family  had  occupied 
the  throne  of  France  for  nearly  three  hundred  years;  a  new  dynas- 
ty of  kings  who  were  destined  to  control  the  nations  of  Europe, 
was  about  to  supplant  them,  and  to  seize  the  reins  of  government. 
Was  it  consistent  with  the  divine  law,  to  dethrone  by  violence  a 
reigning  monarch,  and  to  substitute  a  subject  who  might  rule  the 
empire  with  a  stronger  arm  .''  Pepin,  the  mayor  of  the  palace,  had 
removed  .all  obstacles  to  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  Childeric 
III.,  but  the  decision  of  this  question  in  his  favor;  and  this  decision 
was  confided  to  the  Roman  pontilf  Zachary,  whose  situation  call- 
ed for  the  aid  of  a  foreign  ally,  and  who  saw  in  the  success  of  Pe- 
pin, his  only  resource  against  the  perils  which  surrounded  him,  de- 
cided on  the  morality  of  the  act,  and  satisfied  the  conscientious 
scruples  of  the  usurper.  The  treason  against  the  legitimate  mon- 
arch was  consummated ;  Childeric  was  deposed  ;  and  the  founder 
of  the  Carlovingian  dynasty  was  elevated  to  the  throne.  Stephen 
II.,  the  successor  of  Zachary,  went  afterward  to  France,  and  with 
due  solemnity  released  Pepin  from  the  obligations  of  his  allegiance 
to  Childeric,  which  he  had  three  years  before  violated  ;  anointed, 
and  crowned  him  king  of  France.  In  return,  Pepin  invaded  the 
territories  of  Astolphus,  and  compelled  him  to  relinquish  to  Ste- 
phen   the  exarchate  of  Ravenna,  which  he  had  severed  from  the 


8th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  123 

Eastern  empire,  with  Pentapolis,  and  all  the  territories  of  the  duke- 
dom ;  which  were  vested  forever  in  the  reigning  pope  and  his  suc- 
cessors. This  was  in  the  year  755,  and  is  the  true  epoch  of  the 
temporal  power  of  the  pope.  In  774,  Charlemagne,  having  over- 
thrown the  kingdom  of  the  Lombards,  confirmed  to  Adrian  I.  the 
possessions  granted  to  the  papal  see,  and  in  the  fulness  of  his  reli- 
gious veneration,  enlarged  them  by  additional  concessions.  It  is, 
however,  to  be  remembered  that  these  investitures,  and  all  the  terri- 
torial possessions  of  the  popes,  including  the  capital  itself,  were  held 
as  feudal  tenures  with  some  supposed  moditications  of  the  terms 
under  which  the  fiefs  were  universally  held  in  that  age.  Whilst 
this  great  conquerer  of  the  West,  was  thus  bestowing  with  a  liberal 
hand  the  Roman  territories  which  he  had  acquired  by  conquest,  he 
still  retained  that  jurisdiction  over  ecclesiastical  affairs  which  had 
been  exercised,  undisputed,  by  the  Eastern  emperors  from  the  time 
of  Constantine  the  Great. 

"At  a  council  of  bishops  assembled  in  Rome,  Adrian  conferred 
upon  him  and  his  successors,  the  right  of  election  to  the  see  of 
Rome."  Although  this  power  appears  not  to  have  been  exercised 
either  by  Charlemagne  or  his  successors,  to  the  full  extent  with 
which  it  was  claimed  by  them  and  conceded  by  the  pontifis,  they 
eflectually  controlled  those  elections,  and  determined  at  their  will 
the  succession  to  the  apostolic  chair.  The  vacancies  were  filled, 
apparently  by  the  clergy  and  the  people,  (for  the  latter  still  had  a 
voice  in  the  election,)  but  in  reality  by  the  emperors.  Their  ap- 
proval was  necessary  before  the  candidate  could  be  ordained;  and 
the  ceremony  of  ordination  was  not  performed,  but  in  the  presence 
of  an  ambassador  from  the  imperial  court.  The  pontiff,  and  all  or- 
ders of  the  clergy,  were  amenable  to  the  civil  laws ;  and  judicial 
officers,  known  as  envoys,  were  commissioned  to  take  cognizance 
of  all  matters  appertaining  to  the  Church,  and  to  punish  ofienders. 
Each  church  and  monastery  paid  an  annual  tribute  into  the  public 
treasury  by  an  assessment  determined  by  a  law  of  the  empire. 

Another  restriction  imposed  upon  the  pontiff,  or  ratlier  one  not 
removed,  was  the  right  of  the  provincial  bishops  to  decide  on  all 
matters  in  controversy  among  themselves,  in  their  own  councils ; 
and  without  an  appeal  to  the  papal  court.  The  emperors  retained 
and  exercised  the  power  of  convening  ecumenical  and  other  coun- 
cils ;  and  of  expressing,  or  withholding  their  approval  of  their  pro- 
ceedings, without  which  their  acts  were  nugatory  and  void.  Such 
was  the  true  state  of  the  Church  throughout  this  century. 

In  the  early  part  of  this  century,  an  angry  controversy  arose 
between  the  i)arty  called  Iconoduli,  or  the  defenders,  but  more  pro- 
perly the  worshippers  of  images,  and  that  of  the  Iconoclastae,  or 
destroyers  of  images.  The  worship  of  images  had  become  deeply 
engrafted  in  the  rites  of  the  Church,  both  in  the  East  and  West, 
and  religiously  observed,  through  the  cunning  and  avarice  of  the 


124  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [8th  century. 

clergy,  to  whom  it  was  a  source  of  immense  wealth.  The  flame 
of  contention  was  kindled  in  the  year  712,  by  Philippicus  Bardanes, 
the  Greek  emperor,  who  ordered  a  picture  to  be  taken  down  and 
removed  out  of  the  church  of  St.  Sophia;  and  commanded  the  Ro- 
man pontiff  to  divest  the  Latin  churches  of  those  which  had  been 
introduced  into  them.  Constantine  not  only  refused  obedience  to 
this  imperial  mandate,  but  increased  their  numbers ;  and  in  a  coun- 
cil of  bishops  declared  Philippicus  an  apostate.  The  emperor  was 
soon  after  dethroned,  and  hostilities  between  the  parties  were  sus- 
pended. 

On  the  accession  of  Leo  III.  the  Isaurian,  the  contention  was 
renewed.  That  emperor  in  the  year  726,  published  an  edict  against 
the  worship  of  images,  and  enforced  the  destruction  of  them  in  a 
great  part  of  the  empire.  But  the  pontiflis  of  Rome,  Gregory  U 
and  Hi,  resisted  these  measures  successively,  and  Leo  was  at  length 
formally  excommunicated  by  the  papal  court.  The  insurrections 
in  the  Italian  provinces  of  the  Greek  empire,  in  consequence  of  this 
sentence,  excited  in  the  highest  degree  the  anger  of  the  emperor. 
He  convened  a  council  in  Constantinople,  by  wiiom  the  patriarch 
Germanus  was  degraded  from  his  olhce,  for  having  defended  the 
worship  of  images.  He  enacted  several  laws  against  the  party  of 
the  Iconoduli ;  confiscated  the  papal  possessions  in  Sicily,  &c. ;  and 
reduced  their  churches  in  those  countries,  as  well  as  the  churches 
in  Illyricum,  to  the  spiritual  jurisdiction  of  the  see  of  Constanti- 
nople. 

Constantine  IV.,  surnamed  Copronymus,  prosecuted  tiie  measures, 
which  his  father  Leo  had  commenced,  against  the  worsluppers  of 
images.  A  council  was  convened  by  him  in  the  year  754,  at  Con- 
stantinople. There  were  three  hundred  and  thirty-eight  bishops 
assembled.  By  tliis  council  the  use  as  well  as  the  worship  of  im- 
ages was  condemned.  But  the  decrees  of  this  council  have  been 
rejected  by  the  church  of  Rome.  The  monks  were  so  intemperate 
in  tiieir  opposition  to  them,  that  the  emperor  was  compelled  to  in- 
flict upon  them  the  severest  penalties  of  the  law.  So  diOicult  was 
it  to  eradicate  from  the  minds  of  the  ignorant  and  the  superstitious, 
this  deeply  rooted  prejudice  in  favor  of  idolatrous  worship. 

After  the  death  of  Leo  IV.,  the  son  and  successor  of  Constan- 
tine, who  was  poisoned  by  Irene,  the  partner  of  his  bed  and  of  his 
throne,  the  cause  of  the  Iconoduli  triumj)hed.  This  profligate  wo- 
man, to  strengthen  her  authority,  as  (|ueen  regent  during  the  minor- 
ity of  her  son,  formed  an  alliance  with  Adrian  the  reigning  pope. 
At  a  council  convened  by  her  at  Nice,  in  Bithynia,  in  the  year  787, 
a  decree  was  passed,  which  restored  the  images  to  their  places  in 
the  temples,  and  declared  their  worship  to  be  consistent  with  the 
word  of  God,  and  sanctioned  by  the  fathers.  Nay  more,  severe 
penalties  were  enacted  against  tiiose  who  should  maintain  that 
"  God  was  the  only  object  of  religious  adoration."     God  lias  ex- 


Sthcentui'y.]  the- church  of  christ,  125 

pressly  commanded  in  the  Decalogue,  that  "  Thou  shalt  worship 
the  Lord  thy  God,  and  him  only  shalt  thou  serve-,"  "Thou  shalt 
not  make  unto  thee  any  graven  image,  or  any  likeness  of  any  thing, 
&c.  Thou  shalt  not  bow  down  thyself  to  them,  nor  serve  them, 
&c."  Notwithstanding  these  plain  declarations  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures, an  ecumenical  council  of  the  Church  has  solemnly  decreed, 
that  the  worship  of  images  is  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God,  and 
that  God  himself  is  not  the  only  object  to  be  adored.  Eight  hun- 
dred years  after  this  blasphemous  decree  of  the  papal  cliurch,  pope 
Pius  IV.,  published  his  famous  creed  as  a  rule  of  faith,  by  which 
every  papist  swears,  "To  receive  and  to  profess  all  things  which 
have  been  declared  by  the  sacred  canons  and  ecumenical  councils." 
The  Church  has  registered  the  decrees  of  this  council,  as  canons 
which  must  be  professed  and  received  as  articles  of  faith;  and 
therefore,  whosoever  shall  dare  to  abjure  one  of  them  will  incur 
its  severest  anathemas  and  be  excommunicated  and  accursed. 

But  the  worship  of  images,  has  not  been  sanctioned  by  the  fathers, 
nor  were  they  introduced  into  the  churches  until  the  fourth  century. 
Chrysostom,  who  flourished  in  the  close  of  the  fourth  century,  says 
"Through  the  Scriptures  we  enjoy  the  presence  of  the  saints,  hav- 
ing the  images  not  of  their  bodies,  but  of  their  souls."  Amphilo- 
chus  says,  "  Our  care  is,  not  to  draw  in  colors  on  tables,  the  natu- 
ral faces  of  the  saints  (for  we  have  no  need  of  any  such  thing,)  but 
rather  imitate  their  life  and  conversation."  Asterius,  "  Draw 
not  the  portrait  of  Christ  on  thy  garments,  &c."  Tertullian,  Clem- 
ens, Alexandrinus,  Origen,  and  others,  were  so  religiously  opposed 
to  the  use  of  images  or  representations,  as  forbidden  by  the  second 
commandment,  that  they  believed  paintings  and  engravings  were 
unlawful  to  Christians,  and  pronounced  them  evil  and  wicked  acts. 
The  introduction  of  paintings  into  the  churches,  which  was  some- 
time in  the  fourth  century,  as  ornaments,  gave  rise  to  this  species 
of  idolatry.  In  the  fifth,  these  pictorial  representations  of  the 
saints  decorated  the  temples  of  worship  both  in  the  East  and  AVest; 
but  statues  were  forbidden  as  objects  of  pagan  superstition  and 
worship.  As  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  seventh  century,  pope 
Gregory,  the  Great,  discountenanced  the  acts  of  devotion  which 
then  evinced  the  religious  veneration  with  which  they  were  received. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  even  in  the  fifth  century  they  were  ob- 
jects of  private  adoration,  but  without  the  sanction  of  the  fathers 
or  the  Church. 

From  the  second  council  of  Nice,  in  the  year  787,  and  not  be- 
fore, the  worship  of  images  was  made  a  part  of  the  public  service. 
The  decrees  of  the  several  councils  of  Constantino[)le,  in  the  years 
680,  692  and  754,  condemned  it  as  pagan  idolatry.  The  Latin 
churches  surpassed  their  co-temporaries  in  their  devotion  and  zeal. 
Those  of  France,  Germany,  England  and  Spain,  admitted  them  as 
ornaments  of  the  sanctuary,  or  as  memorials  of  faith,  but  not  as 


126  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [8th  ceiitury. 

objects  of  divine  adoration.  At  a  much  later  period  than  the  eighth 
century,  we  may  date  the  introduction  amongst  them  of  this  species 
of  idolatry.  Although  in  the  East,  the  efforts  of  the  emperors  to 
abolish  this  worship  were  zealously  and  obstinately  opposed  by  the 
people,  and  through  the  influence  of  pope  Adrian,  in  the  year  787, 
an  Asiatic  council  established  it  by  its  solemn  decree,  the  Greek 
church  had  not  fallen  so  deejjly  into  this  corruption  of  religion  as 
that  of  Rome.  It  prohibited  the  introduction,  into  the  sanctuary, 
of  images,  as  objects  of  devotion  as  late  as  the  eleventh  century, 
but  by  a  species  of  metaphysical  refinement  they  were  used  as  me- 
diums through  which  prayers  were  offered  to  those  represented  by 
them.  Tiiey  worshipped  not  the  images  themselves;  as  believing 
them  endowed  with  an  inherent  and  peculiar  sanctity  which  the 
Latins  professed.  Whilst  the  latter  "bowed  down  to  tliem  and 
worshipped  them;"  the  former  honored  them  with  a  relative  wor- 
ship, as  the  sacella  or  tabernacles  of  the  true  objects  of  their  ador- 
ation. 

The  decrees  of  the  council  of  Nice,  were  sanctioned  and  defend- 
ed by  Adrian ;  but  Charlemagne,  who  had  acquired  a  sovereignty 
over  the  States  of  Italy  by  his  conquests,  and  controlled  the  eccle- 
siastical as  well  as  the  civil  government,  assembled  at  Frankfort 
on  the  Maine,  a  council  of  three  hundred  bishops,  which  unani- 
mously condemned  the  worship  of  images.  Thus  in  the  year  794, 
closed  for  this  century  the  controversy  between  the  parties. 

Another  question  arose  about  the  year  767,  in  a  council  convened 
at  Gentilli,  near  Paris,  on  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
Whether  it  proceeded  from  the  Father  only,  or  from  the  Father 
and  the  Son?  The  Greeks  maintained  the  former,  and  the  latter 
was  defended  by  the  Latins.  This  seems  to  have  originated  \vith 
the  Greeks,  who  had  been  accused  of  heresy  for  their  opposition 
to  the  worship  of  images  by  the  Western  churches.  They  retorted 
on  their  adversaries  by  a  similar  charge  of  heresy  on  the  Latuis  for 
believing  in  this  procession  from  the  Father  and  the  Son;  and  ac- 
cused them  of  interpolating  the  decrees  of  the  council  of  Constan- 
tinople, which  declared  that  "  the  Holy  Ghost  proceeded  from  the 
Father  only."  In  the  Latin  translation  of  the  canons  of  that  coun- 
cil, the  words  '■'•  jilioqnc'''  had  been  secretly  inserted,  to  give  to  that 
doctrine  the  sanction  of  the  council.  This  has  been  the  uniform 
practice  of  the  Romish  church.  It  is  well  known  that  the  Latin 
copies  of  the  canons  adopted  by  the  ecumenical  councils  in  the 
East,  are  corrupt  translations  of  the  original  documents,  and  sel- 
dom correspond  with  them  where  the  decrees  of  those  councils  are 
at  variance  with  the  rites,  doctrines,  or  pretensions  of  the  papal 
hierarchy. 

In  this  century,  solitary  masses  were  first  inti'oduccd,  in  which 
the  priest  alone  makes  a  propitiation  for  souls  in  j)urgatory.  This 
has  been  in  all  ages  a  source  of  wealth  to  the  clergy  ;  as  the  efficacy 


8th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  127 

of  the  masses  thus  celebrated,  at  the  instance  of  the  relatives  of  the 
deceased,  depended  upon  the  liberality  and  munificence  of  the  do- 
nary. 

Another  source  of  wealth  was  "  the  price  of  transgression." 
This  was  paid  by  Pepin  for  his  rebellion  against  his  sovereign. 
Kings  and  princes  became  willing  tributaries ;  and  enriched  the 
Church  by  costly  gifts  and  by  the  endowments  of  cities  and  pro- 
vinces. The  price  of  transgression  was  commensurate  with  the 
enoi'mity  of  the  guilt  and  the  wealth  of  the  offender.  There  was 
with  the  Church  an  ample  provision  for  pardon  and  the  redemption 
of  the  soul  under  all  the  circumstances  of  its  commission. 

At  this  period  the  superstitious  dread  of  an  excommunication 
fi'om  the  Church  began  to  take  deep  root  in  the  popular  mind.  An 
exclusion  from  ecclesiastical  privileges  was  considered  a  just  for- 
feiture of  all  claims  to  the  common  rights  of  humanity.  This  be- 
lief, fostered  and  strengthened  by  the  clergy  for  their  own  sinister 
purposes,  invested  a  power  in  the  Church  which  was  destined  to 
reach  the  most  powerful  princes  upon  their  thrones ;  and  to  give  to 
the  Roman  pontiff  a  control  over  the  political  affairs  of  nations,  as 
well  as  over  the  domestic  relations  of  life.  The  humble  tenant  of 
a  cottage,  and  the  proud  monarch  of  an  imperial  palace,  became 
equally  the  objects  and  the  victims  of  a  power,  which,  claiming  its 
commission  from  the  throne  of  divine  mercy,  was  inexorable  in  its 
demands  and  merciless  in  its  inflictions. 

The  moral  state  of  the  Church,  v/hich  had  been  for  several  cen- 
turies becoming  more  debased,  was  at  this  time  most  vicious  and 
corrupt.  In  the  East,  the  dissensions  amongst  the  highest  orders 
of  the  clergy  were  maintained  with  the  utmost  virulence  and  ani- 
mosity; and  not  unfrequently  terminated  in  violence  and  assassina- 
tions. In  the  West,  the  most  licentious  conduct,  dissipation,  sen- 
sual enjoyments,  and  an  inordinate  passion  for  pleasure,  wealth  and 
power,  were  the  universal  characteristics.  It  is  difficult  to  account 
for  the  fact,  from  any  moral  principle  of  human  nature,  that  not- 
withstanding this  public  and  shameful  abandonment  of  religion  and 
virtue,  the  superstitious  veneration  and  awe  for  the  clergy  continued 
to  increase.  That  this  was  more  remarkable  in  Europe  than  in 
Asia,  has  been  admitted  by  historians  and  accounted  for  by  moral- 
ists, from  the  influence  which  the  religion  of  paganism  exercised 
over  the  feelings  of  its  votaries.  Many  of  the  nations  of  the  West 
had  then  but  recently  been  converted  to  Ciiristianity,  and  they 
brought  with  them  into  the  Christian  Church  that  superstitious  fear 
of  the  priests  which  was  one  of  the  marked  characteristics  of  pa- 
ganism, particularly  of  Druidism,  Avhich  had  born  the  prevailing 
religion  of  the  greater  portion  of  Europe.  This  feeling  was  easily 
and  naturally  transferred  to  the  Christian  clergy  upon  their  conver- 
sion; and  by  their  artifice  and  cunning  cherished  and  perpetuated. 
The  rites  of  the  Christian  Chureh  were  also  calculated  to  excite 
their  admiration  and  awe. 


1^8  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [8th  cenlur}'. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

Few  controversies  of  a  doctrinal  nature  disturbed  the  Christian 
world  in  this  century.  The  subject  of  image  worship  engrossed 
the  attention  of  both  the  Eastern,  and  Western  church ;  and  for  a 
short  time  the  question,  whether  the  Holy  Ghost  proceeded  from 
the  Father  alone,  or  from  the  Father  and  the  Son,  was  warmly  and 
angrily  discussed.  But  this  at  length  resolved  itself  into  another  of 
a  dilferent  import;  and  the  discussion  terminated  by  the  Greeks 
alledging  against  the  Latins,  a  sacrilegious  attempt  to  impose  their 
creed  upon  the  Church,  by  a  fraudulent  interpolation  of  tlie  decrees 
of  the  council  of  Constantinople.  These  are  unfavorable  evidences 
of  the  learning  and  the  theological  acumen  of  the  age.  The  labors 
of  the  clergy  were  directed  to  the  compilations  of  the  literary 
works  of  the  writers  who  lived  in  the  first  six  centuries.  Destitute 
themselves  of  originality  of  thought,  they  drew  their  knowledge 
from  the  ancient  lore  of  the  fathers  of  the  Church  ;  and  with  a 
blind  veneration  received  their  opinions  as  the  dictates  of  inspira- 
tion. 

The  Scotch  reformers,  however,  were  an  honorable  exception. 
In  this  age  of  mental  darkness  they  distinguished  themselves  by 
their  literary  productions;  and  by  rejecting  the  authority  of  those 
early  writers,  advancing  their  own  doctrines,  and  illustrating  them 
by  their  genius  and  learning.  Although  there  are  evident  traces  of 
the  system  of  what  has  been  technically  termed  "  scholastic  divin- 
ity," in  the  sixth  century,  in  the  writings  of  those  who  combated 
the  doctrines  of  Nestorius,  Eutyches,  and  Pelagius;  to  these  doc- 
tors of  the  Culdee  Seminaries  may  be  attributed  its  revival  in  this 
age.  An  evidence  at  least  that  the  study  of  mental  philosophy  was 
pursued  with  success  by  them,  when  literature  and  the  sciences  had 
been  every  where  else  supplanted  by  monkish  legends  and  the  crude 
and  fanciful  conceits  of  the  fathers. 

These  divines  were  particularly  obnoxious  to  Boniface,  the  cele- 
brated missionary  of  the  gospel  in  Germany,  for  refusing  to  ac- 
knowledge the  authority  of  the  pope,  and  to  conform  with  the  rites 
and  ordinances  of  the  Romish  church.  In  a  council  assembled  at 
Rome,  by  Zachary,  in  the  year  748,  Clement,  who  was  a  native  of 
Ireland  and  a  worthy  successor  of  Columba,'  was  condemned  for 
contumacy  and  imprisoned. 

Constantine  Sylvanus,  who  revived  in  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury the  sect  of  the  Paulicians,  first  disseminated  his  doctrines  in 
the  provinces  of  Pontus,  on  the  Euxine  or  Black  Sea,  and  of  Cap- 
padocia.  His  followers  were  distinguished  by  the  zeal  and  the 
severe  discipline  introduced  into  their  religious  association.  They 
increased  in  numbers  and  strengtli,  and  in  a  short  time  extended 

'The  Irish  or  Hibernians  wfire  in  this  century  generally  known  as  the  Scots. 
Tlierc  were  learned  doctors,  from  the  scliool  estahhshed  by  Columba  in  the  sixth 
century,  in  every  part  of  Euroiic  in  this  century. 


9th  century.]  the  church  of  christ,  129 

over  the  greater  part  of  Asia  Minor,  west  of  the  Euphrates.  Co- 
lonia,  now  known  as  Coulei-hisar  or  Chonac,  was  the  place  of  his 
residence ;  and  the  churches  which  w^ere  successively  planted  by 
him,  were  distinguished  by  the  names  of  those  to  whom  the  apostle 
Paul  addressed  his  Epistles.  "  In  a  calamitous  period  of  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty  years,"  says  Gibbon,  "  their  patience  sustained  what- 
ever zeal  could  inflict." 

Their  persecution  which  commenced  with  their  revival  in  the 
last  century,  was  renewed  in  this  by  Leo  III.  the  Isaurian.  This 
was  conducted  \vith  unmitigated  severity,  with  the  intention  of  an 
utter  annihilation.  But  neither  the  sword  of  the  conqueror,  nor  the 
arguments  and  persuasion  of  the  legates,  could  induce  them  to 
abandon  their  faith.  They  resolutely  resisted  every  attempt  either 
by  force  or  conviction,  to  seduce  them  into  a  connection  with  either 
the  Greek  or  Latin  church.  The  death  of  Leo,  and  the  succession 
of  his  son,  Constantine  V.,  surnamed  Porphyrogenitus,  a  minor, 
suspended  for  a  short  time  the  efforts  of  the  Eastern  empire,  to  re- 
duce them  to  submission. 

This  history  of  this  sect  occupies  an  interesting  and  an  import- 
ant portion  of  ecclesiastical  history,  for  several  succeeding  centu- 
ries from  this  period ;  and  will  be  resumed  in  its  proper  place. 

The  incursions  of  the  Saracens  were  extended  in  this  century 
over  the  greater  part  of  Asia,  in  Africa  along  the  shores  of  the 
Mediterranean  Sea,  on  the  Island  of  Sicily,  and  approached  the 
walls  of  Rome  itself.  The  Normans  on  the  coasts  of  the  Baltic 
Sea,  invaded  Germany  and  Gaul,  and  continued  their  conquests  into 
Italy.  The  Western  empire,  established  by  Charlemagne,  was  soon 
deprived  of  its  weight  in  the  political  balance  by  the  weakness  and 
pusillanimity  of  his  successors;  but  the  partition  of  the  empire  by 
the  reigning  princes  themselves,  speedly  affected  its  strength  and 
finally  occasioned  its  downfall.  This  great  conqueror  was  crowned 
emperor  of  the  West  by  pope  Leo  III.,  in  the  year  800.  His  do- 
minions comprised  all  Germany,  to  the  Baltic  Sea  and  the  mouth  of 
the  Vistula,  all  Gaul,  and  the  northern  parts  of  Spain  to  the  river 
Ebro,  Italy  to  Mount  Vesuvius,  and  eastward,  Pannonia,  Sclavonia, 
Bosnia  and  Dalmatia.  Charlemagne  was  succeeded  by  his  son, 
Louis  I.,  Le  Debonnaire.  Louis  divided  his  possessions  among  his 
sons;  in  consequence  of  which,  dissensions  and  civil  wars  distract- 
ed the  empire.  These  contentions  not  only  weakened  the  empire, 
but  enabled  the  Roman  pontiffs  to  advance  successfully  their  pre- 
tensions to  supreme  spiritual  authority.  The  Eastern  empire,  al- 
though it  preserved  its  sovereignty,  was  equally  disturbed  by  con- 
tending factions  and  by  foreign  invasions.  On  its  eastern  borders, 
it  was  plundered  by  the  Saracens ;  on  the  north  and  west,  by  tlie 
Abari  and  the  Bulgarians.  Such  arc  the  outlines  of  the  political 
history  of  Europe  and  of  Asia,  in  reference  to  its  connection  with 
the  history  of  the  Christian  Church. 
9 


1 30  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [9th  ccnlury. 

The  temporal  princes,  whilst  Ihey  were  engaged  in  bloody  con- 
tentions and  forgetting  the  natural  alFections  of  relationship,  showed 
a  superstitious  reverence  for  the  clergy,  and  an  humble  submission 
to  their  spiritual  authority.  So  far  was  this  singular  delusion  car- 
ried, that  even  kings,  dukes  and  counts,  retired  in  seclusion  to  the 
monasteries,  and  devoted  their  lives  to  prayers  and  to  penances. 
Ecclesiastics  were  the  chief  diplomatists  in  managing  the  affairs  of 
state;  and  all  measures  of  policy  were  referred  to  their  adjudica- 
tion and  decision.  Thus,  as  temporal  princes  became  more  devot- 
ed to  spiritual  concerns,  the  clergy  directed  their  influence  to  con- 
trol and  govern  in  secular  afliairs.  Hence  it  is  that  we  see  the  ex- 
traordinary advance  to  power,  which  the  Roman  pontiffs  from  this 
period  continually  made.  This  indeed  may  be  considered  as  the 
commencement  of  the  era  of  popish  supremacy.  All  the  political 
events  of  the  age  conspired  to  secure  to  the  head  of  the  Church, 
his  highest  and  most  unbounded  aspirations. 

The  sons  of  Louis  Le  Debonnaire,  or  the  Meek,  dissatisfied  with 
the  extent  of  the  kingdoms  which  he  had  allotted  to  them,  conspired 
against  him  at  the  instigation  of  pope  Gregory  IV.  They  dethroned 
him ;  and  he  became  a  prisoner  in  a  monastery.  Lotharius,  his 
eldest  son,  having  succeeded  him  in  the  empire,  was  not  long  after 
defeated  by  his  brothers  at  the  battle  of  Fontenai,  and  by  a  council 
of  bishops  under  the  authority  of  the  pope,  deposed  from  the  throne 
and  excommunicated.  But  an  arbiter  must  determine  the  conflict- 
ing claims  of  the  conquerors  ;  and  the  pontiff"  adjusted  their  respec- 
tive rights,  with  a  reservation  of  obedience  to  his  decision.  On  the 
death  of  Lotharius,  who  had  been  restored  to  the  sovereignty, 
Charles,  surnanied  the  Bald,  the  youngest  son  of  Louis,  assumed 
{he  empire,  after  a  severe  and  bloody  conflict  with  his  surviving 
brother ;  and  secured  the  possession  of  the  crown  by  rich  dona- 
tions and  flattering  promises  to  the  reigning  pontiff',  John  VIII. 
W^ith  his  successor  and  nephew,  Charles  the  Gross,  the  legitimate 
posterity  of  Charlemagne,  expired.  "  After  the  reigns  of  tliese 
princes  the  empire  was  torn  in  pieces;  the  most  deplorable  tumults 
and  commotions  arose  in  Italy,  France  and  Germany,  which  were 
governed,  or  rather  subdued  and  usurped,  by  various  chiefs;  and 
in  this  confused  scene  of  things,  the  highest  bidder  Avas,  by  the 
succor  of  the  greedy  jjontiffs,  geneially  juised  to  the  government 
of  Italy,  and  to  the  imperial  throne.'' 

Not  only  all  temporal  powers  were  thus  gradually  concentrating 
in  the  pope,  but  the  spiritual  rights  of  the  inferior  orders  of  the 
clergy,  were  also  invested  in  the  same  head.  The  bishops  in  the 
end  were  deprived  of  their  prerogatives,  and  were  brought  into  an 
entire  subordination  to  his  will.  The  field  of  usurpations  being 
thus  suddenly  expanded,  every  artifice  was  resorted  to,  to  give  to 
the  pretensions  of  the  jjontifi'':^,  an  appearance  of  right,  founded  not 
only  on  the  divine  sanction,  but  on  prescription,  and  the  admission 


9th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  131 

of  the  ruling  powers  in  preceding  ages.  Forged  acts  of  councils, 
and  fictitious  records  were  published  as  ancient  documents,  by 
which  the  primacy  of  the  see  of  Rome,  was  proved  to  have  been 
undoul)tedly  established  many  centuries  before.  The  decisions  of 
a  council,  declared  to  have  been  held  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth 
century,  acknowledging  the  supremacy  of  the  Roman  bishop,  were 
produced  as  undoubted  evidences  of  the  antiquity  and  justness  of 
his  claim;  aUhough  no  record  could  be  found  of  any  council  having 
been  convened  at  that  time.  It  has  always  been  admitted  by  the 
papists  themselves,  that  the  first  ecumenical  council  assembled  at 
Nice  in  the  year  325 ;  and  was  the  only  one  that  was  convened  in 
that  century,  until  that  of  Constantinople  in  381.  In  the  records 
of  neither  of  these  councils  is  such  an  admission  found.  Forged 
canons  were  produced  as  the  decrees  of  a  council  of  which  there 
were  no  traces  in  history.  The  "  Decretal  Epistles"  were  also  the 
productions  of  this  century ;  and  imposed  upon  the  world  as  the 
compilation  of  authentic  documents  made  in  the  sixth  century  by 
Isidore,  bishop  of  Seville.  Decretal  epistles  are  letters  of  the 
pontiffs  determining  questions  in  reference  to  the  ecclesiastical  law, 
and  constitute  a  part  of  the  code  of  the  canon  laws  of  the  Cliurch. 
That  no  such  epistles  have  been  found  in  the  sacred  archives  of  the 
Church,  as  existing  previous  to  this  time,  or  at  least  earlier  than 
the  eighth  century,  is  now  admitted  by  every  candid  papist;  when 
such  a  phenomenon  appears,  to  testify  on  the  infallibility  of  the 
pope.  These  are  a  few  only  of  the  innumerable  fabrications  of  the 
times.  The  deluded  Christian  world  was  prepared  for  the  recep- 
tion of  any  falsehood  artfully  contrived,  and  to  acknowledge  ttie 
pretensions  of  the  pontifi's  as  founded  on  ancient  usages  or  divine 
right;  and  political  events  invited  the  assertion  of  claims,  however 
novel  and  unfounded  they  might  be.  Papal  avarice  and  ambition 
seized  the  golden  moment  to  advance  and  to  maintain  them ;  and 
most  fatally  for  the  cause  of  religious  liberty  and  of  spiritual  reli- 
gion, its  objects  were  fearfully  accomplished. 

Charles,  the  Bald,  having  been  elevated  to  the  throne  of  the  em- 
pire by  the  pope,  John  VIII.,  relinquished  the  right  of  suspending 
the  ordination  of  the  popes  after  their  election,  until  the  imperial 
sanction  had  been  obtained. ^  From  the  year  884,  the  elections 
were  conducted  in  Rome  with  a  most  shameful  violation  of  order 
and  decorum.  The  most  dreadful  commotions,  riots,  and  conten- 
tions, accompanied  every  recurrence  of  a  vacancy  in  the  see,  until 
the  year  964,  when  Otho,  the  Great,  degraded  pope  John  XII.,  and 
appointed  Leo  VIII.,  having  convicted  John  of  crimes  of  a  most 
flagrant  character. 

In  this  century  a  bitter  controversy  arose  between  the  Eastern 
and  Western  churches,  which  produced  a  schism  that  was  never 

'Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  9lh  century. 


132  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [9th  centurj. 

after  healed;  and  a  final  separation.  The  spirit  of  jealousy  which 
had  existed  between  them,  from  the  period  of  the  elevation  of  the 
patriarch  of  Constantinople  in  the  year  381,  to  a  rank  second  only 
to  the  Roman  bishop,  (for  this  preceded  the  assumption  by  the  hier- 
arch  of  the  Western  church  of  the  title  of  pope,  which  was  done 
by  Siricius  in  the  year  384,)  and  his  higher  elevation  by  the  ecu- 
menical council  of  Chalcedon,  in  the  year  451,  to  an  equality  in 
honors,  dignities,  and  prerogatives  with  the  pontilf,  was  manifested 
through  the  successive  centuries  which  intervened  between  those 
periods  and  the  present  century.  It  now  exhibited  itself  with  evi- 
dences of  irreconcilable  animosity.  The  ancient  differences  had 
been  widened  when  Leo,  the  Isaurian,  withdrew  from  the  jurisdic- 
tion of  the  Roman  see,  the  Churches  in  Sicily,  Calabria,  Apulia  and 
Illyricum,  and  attached  them  to  the  patriarchate  of  Constantinople. 
This  injury  had  not  been  forgotten  by  the  heads  of  the  Western 
church,  and  a  favorable  opportunity  was  now  supposed  to  be  ofl'ered 
of  resenting  it.  Ignatius  was  degraded  from  the  patriarchate  in  the 
year  858,  by  the  emperor  Michael  III.,  and  Photius  elevated  to  the 
sacred  office.  A  council  convened  at  Constantinople  in  861,  con- 
firmed and  applauded  the  proceeding.  Ignatius,  however,  appealed 
to  the  pope,  Nicholas  I.,  who  in  a  council  convened  in  Rome  in 
862,  excommunicated  Photius,  and  all  who  sustained  him  in  his 
pretensions.  The  patriarch  in  another  council  of  Constantinople 
in  866,  declared  Nicholas  unworthy  of  his  office  and  of  holding 
communion  with  the  Christian  Church.  In  the  mean  time,  however, 
Michael  was  assassinated  by  Basilius,  who  usurped  the  throne  and 
recalled  Ignatius  to  the  office  of  patriarch.  By  his  authority  an 
ecumenical  council  assembled  in  Constantinople  in  869,  which 
sanctioned  the  act  of  the  emperor,  and  excommunicated  Photius. 
In  this  council,  Adrian  II.,  who  had  succeeded  Nicholas,  endeavor- 
ed by  his  legates  to  recover  his  lost  territories  ;  but  his  efforts  were 
inefiectual.  In  the  year  878,  Ignatius  died,  and  Photius,  although 
excommunicated,  was  restored  to  his  see,  with  the  consent  of  the 
pontiff,  John  VIII.,  who  had  been  promised  by  Photius,  the  restor- 
ation of  his  provinces  and  the  extension  of  his  jurisdiction  over  the 
province  of  Bulgaria.  The  wily  pontift"  was,  however,  deceived 
by  the  more  cunning  prelate;  and  his  stratagem  to  acquire  his  lost 
provinces  was  defeated  by  the  duplicity  of  Photius.  The  enraged 
and  disappointed  pontiff,  who  had  acknowledged  him  "  his  beloved 
brother  in  Christ,"  upon  his  restoration,  now  declared  to  the  court 
of  Constantinople,  by  his  legate,  "  that  he  had  changed  his  mind 
concerning  Photius,  and  again  approved  of  his  former  excommuni- 
cation." Such  were  the  arts  of  popery  in  its  efforts  to  acquire 
wealth  and  power.  But  the  dispute  became  still  more  acrimonious 
and  irreconcilable,  by  his  insisting  upon  the  degradation  from  office 
of  all  the  priests  and  bishops,  who  had  been  ordained  by  Photius. 


9th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  133 

As  ail  evidence  of  the  greater  corruption  of  the  clerical  orders, 
in  comparison  witii  the  moral  sentiments  of  the  more  enlightened 
portion  of  tlie  people  in  Europe,  it  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  the 
Roman  pontitfs  tbrced  upon  them,  by  an  ecclesiastical  authority, 
the  idolatry  of  image  worship.  In  the  East,  the  emperors  gener- 
ally opposed  its  introduction  into  the  Churches ;  but  were  iinaily 
overpowered  by  the  intiuence  which  the  clergy  exercised  over  the 
superstitious  feelings  of  the  populace.  In  the  last  century,  it  was 
successfully  resisted  by  them,  until  the  government  fell  into  the 
hands  of  Irene,  as  queen  regent,  during  the  minority  of  her  son 
Constantine  V.  During  iier  regency,  the  council  of  Nice,  under 
the  inlluence  of  pope  Adrian,  seconded  by  her  authority,  passed 
the  decrees  which  have  already  been  mentioned,  and  which  dis- 
grace the  name  and  character  of  the  Christian  Church.  In  this  cen- 
tury, the  throne  opposed  and  the  clergy  defended  it.  Leo  V.,  sur- 
named  the  Armenian,  abolished  the  decrees  of  that  council.  But 
whan  the  regency  was  intrusted  to  Theodora  in  842,  during  the 
minority  of  her  son  Michael  111.,  a  council  was  convened  at  Con- 
stantinople, and  those  decrees  were  restored.  At  the  ecumenical 
council  held  in  the  year  869,  in  which  pope  Adrian  was  represent- 
ed by  his  legates,  the  worshippers  of  images  obtained  a  triunifihant 
ascendency ;  and  in  commemoration  of  tins  great  event,  a  testival 
was  instituted  by  the  Church,  which  is  called  the  feast  of  Ortho- 
doxy. Idolatry  has  from  that  period  been  permanently  engrafted 
upon  the  Chiistian  Church,  and  forms  in  our  day  an  important  part 
of  public  and  private  worship,  and  a  pillar  of  popery. 

The  controversy  on  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  was  re- 
vived in  the  year  809.  Charlemagne  convened  a  council  at  Rome, 
in  which  the  pope,  Leo  111.,  was  present  in  person.  The  interpo- 
lation of  the  term  '■'■  Jilioque^''''  with  which  the  Greeks  had  charged 
the  Latins,  seems  to  have  been  admitted  without  controversy.  Leo, 
although  he  believed  that  the  Holy  Ghost  proceeded  from  "  the 
Father  and  the  Son,"  erased  tlie  term  iVom  the  creed.  His  succes- 
sors sanctioned  the  erasure ;  but  it  was,  notwithstanding,  restored 
afterwards;  and  still  continues  in  the  symbol  as  an  article  of  faith. 
Thus  would  those  holy  fathers  have  rejected  from  the  form  of  pub- 
lic worship,  a  profession  of  faith  which  they  admitted  to  be  or- 
thodox. 

The  nature  of  the  elements  (bread  and  wine)  became  a  subject 
of  animated  discussion  about  the  middle  of  this  century,  without 
any  dehnitive  settlement  of  the  question.  Tertullian,  one  of  the 
fathers  of  the  second  century,  says  '^  Christ  having  taken  bread, 
and  distributed  it  to  his  disciples,  made  it  his  body,  in  saying,  this 
is  my  body  ;  tiiat  is  to  say,  the  figure  of  my  body."  Augustine, 
who  wrote  in  the  third  and  fourth  centuries,  says  "The  Lord  hesi- 
tated not  to  say,  this  is  my  body;  when  he  delivered  only  the  sign 
of  his  body."     Theodoret,  bishop  of  Cyprus,  who  flourislied  in 


134  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [9tli  cetitury. 

the  fifth  century,  says  "The  mystical  symbols,  after  consecration, 
do  not  cease  their  proper  nature;  for  they  continue  in  their  tirst 
substance,  figure  and  form."  ^     It  is  certain  that  the  papal  church 
had   expressed   nothing   authoritatively  on  this  intricate  subject. 
When  Kadbert,  abbot  of  Corbey,  advanced  the  doctrine,  that  the 
material  of  the  bread,  after  consecration,  is  the  same  body  that  was 
born  of  the  Virgin,  that  suffered  upon  the  cross,  and  was  raised 
from  the  dead,  the  novelty  and  the  boldness  of  the  proposition  ex- 
cited the  astonishment  of  the  Christian  world.     Some  of  the  most 
learned  theologists  of  the  day,  entered  the  list  of  controversy,  and 
the  ambiguity  in  which   they  expressed  their  several  opinions, 
evinced  either  a  perplexity  of  mind  on  the  subject,  or  a  fear  of  ad- 
vancing any  decided  opinion,  upon  so  mysterious  and  intricate  a 
question.     Radbert  himself  is  charged  with  being  inconsistent  and 
contradictory  in  his  statements.     Bertram,  who  opposed  his  doc- 
trine, maintained,  that  "  The  bread  represents  the  body  of  Christ 
and  the  body  of  believers — the  wine  alone,  the  former ;  and  the 
water  with  which  it  is  mixed,  the  latter.     If  therefore,  they  be 
really  changed  by  consecration,  into  the  body  of  one  (or  Christ,) 
they  must  necessarily  be  changed  into  the  body  of  the  other  also 
(or  the  believers ;)  for  the  consecration  is  one  sanctifying  operation. 
In  the  water  we  see  no  sucli  corporeal  change,  neither  therefore 
can  there  be  a  corporeal  change  in  the  wine.     As  then  we  must 
take  the  water  spiritually,  so  must  we  take  the  wine  spiritually.   So 
of  the  bread,  which  consists  of  many  distinct  and  separate  grains  of 
wheat,  but  united  into  one  body,  as  the  believers  being  many  are 
united  into  one  body,  which  is  Christ,  if  these  several  grains  repre- 
senting the  believers,  be  not  corporeally  ciianged  into  the  body  of 
believers,  neither  can  the  bread,  being  but  an  aggregate  of  tliose 
grains,  be  corporeally  changed  into  the  body  of  Christ.    Moreover, 
the  body  of  Christ  raised  up  to  life,  can  be  subject  no  more  to  dis- 
solution, but  we  know  that  the  consecrated  bread  is  eaten  and  di- 
gested; therefore,  it  is  impossible  that  two  things  so  dissimilar,  can 
be  one  and  the  same  substance ;  and  if  they  be  not  one  and  the 
same,  how  can  any  man  say  that  this  is  the  real  body  and  real  blood 
of  Christ.?" 

The  immense  wealth  which  the  sale  of  relics  brought  into  the 
coffers  of  the  clergy,  stimulated  the  search  after  the  bones  of  de- 
parted saints.  Fasting  and  prayer,  blessed  by  tiie  direction  of  tlie 
Holy  Spirit,  were  the  certain  means  of  discovering  the  depositories 
of  these  sacred  remains.  It  was  the  by  the  guidance  of  this  Holy 
Spirit,  that  the  bones  of  St.  Mark,  of  St.  Bartholomew,  of  St. 
James,  and  of  many  other  saints  of  the  apostolic  times  were  dis- 
covered. These  are  still  preserved  in  those  parts  of  the  world 
where  popery  can  impose  on  tlie  ignorance  and  bigotry  of  the  peo- 

•Daille,  on  tlic  right  use  of  the  Fathers. 


9th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  135 

pie ;  and  exhibited  to  the  deluded  votaries  of  the  "  Beast  who  opens 
his  mouth  in  blasphemy  against  God,  to  blaspheme  his  name  and  his 
tabernacle,  and  tliem  that  dwell  in  heaven,",  as  the  veritable  and  un- 
doubted bones  of  the  apostles  of  Christ. 

The  increased  veneration  for  the  saints  marks  the  corruption  and 
ignorance  of  the  age.  The  ingenuity  and  artifice  of  the  priests  and 
monks,  the  willing  instruments  of  the  pontiffs,  provided  for  each 
province  and  city,  for  every  family,  for  every  superstitious  devotee, 
a  tutelary  deity,  who  would  carry  up  the  prayers  of  the  penitent  to 
the  throne  of  heaven,  or  protect  him  from  the  temptations  and  as- 
saults of  satan;  who  would  lake  under  their  guardian  care,  his  tem- 
poral affairs  as  well  as  his  spiritual  interests. 

So  glaring  and  shameful  had  the  imposition  of  the  priests  and 
monks  upon  the  credulity  of  the  ignorant  becomci^  that  the  ecclesi- 
astical councils  were  compelled  to  interpose  and  check  the  further 
progress  of  the  evil.  But  the  remedy  they  prescribed,  was  neither 
calculated  nor  intended  to  eradicate  the  disease.  Before  a  saint 
could  be  commissioned  to  intercede  at  the  throne  of  heaven  in  be- 
half of  a  devout  penitent,  and  obtain  for  him  the  help  and  grace  from 
God  for  securing  the  salvation  of  his  soul,  "  a  bishop  in  a  provin- 
cial council,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  people,  must  first  have  pro- 
nounced him  worthy  of  that  distinguished  honor."  From  this  arose, 
soon  after,  the  ceremony  of  canonization.  As  the  number  of  the 
saints  swelled  the  sacred  calendar,  rites  and  ceremonies  multiplied, 
and  new  festivals  were  instituted. 

When  it  is  stated  that  in  this  age,  trials  by  cold  water,  by  single 
combat,  by  the  fire-ordeal,  and  by  the  cross,  were  the  customary 
tribunals  which  determined  the  innocence  of  those  accused  of  flag- 
rant offenses  ;  and  that  these  barbarous  institutions  were  solemnized 
by  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and  other  religious  rites; 
it  will  be  unnecessary  to  add,  that  the  clergy  and  the  people  to- 
gether were  approaching  the  lowest  scale  of  depravity  and  vice. 

The  pontiffs  themselves  were  not  exempt  from  well  founded  ac- 
cusations of  crimes  of  the  most  savage  and  diabolical  character. 
Gregory  IV.,  encouraged  the  revolt  of  the  princes  against  their 
father,  Louis  Le  Debonnaire.  Boson,  having  usurped  the  kingdom 
of  Arclat,'  and  brought  over  the  pontiff  to  sustain  him,  John  VIII., 
prohibited  the  princes  whose  provinces  had  been  thus  forcibly 
seized  to  molest  Boson,  under  the  penalty  of  a  sentence  of  excom- 
munication, informing  them,  that  "he  had  adopted  that  illustrious 
prince  as  his  son."  Stephen  VI.,  exhumed  the  dead  body  of  For- 
mosus,  one  of  his  predecessors,  and  after  subjecting  it  to  the  form 
of  a  trial,  caused  the  head,  with  the  three  fingers  used  in  consecra- 

'Tlie  kingdom  of  Arclnt  or  Arlos,  compreliendcd  Danphine,  Provence,  nDrjrundy, 
Savoy,  and  tlic  West  of  Switzerland,  sometimes  culled  the  kingdom  of  Burgundy, 
except  Savoy  and  the  part  of  Switzerland,  it  is  now  a  part  of  France. 


136  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [9th  ccntury. 

tion,  to  be  cut  off,  and  the  corpse  to  be  thrown  into  the  Tiber. 
Stephen  was  the  following  year  imprisoned  and  strangled.^ 

In  this  century,  was  that  remarkable  occurrence  of  a  woman  oc- 
cupying the  papal  throne.  She  is  said  to  liave  governed  with  great 
ability  for  three  years ;  but  the  birth  of  a  child  revealed  her  sex, 
and  she  was  compelled  to  resign  her  station.  This  extraordinary 
character  has  been  recorded  in  history,  as  pope  Joan.^  The  truth 
of  this  narration  was  never  questioned  by  the  papal  writers  them- 
selves until  the  sixteenth  century.  The  celebrated  Spanheim,  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  collected  all  the  historical  evidences  of 
this  occurrence.  There  is  no  event  of  ihat  period  more  strongly 
sustained.  All  the  writers  of  the  five  succeeding  centuries  either 
affirmed  it,  or  passed  it  over  without  an  effort  to  invalidate  the  tes- 
timony in  its  favor.  But  when  the  light  of  reformation  was  kindled 
by  Luther  and  oilier  reformers  in  the  sixteenth  century,  in  Ger- 
many, Switzerland  and  France ;  and  the  iniquities  of  popery  with 
all  its  false  pretensions,  were  brought  to  the  test  of  truth,  its  advo- 
cates were  driven  to  all  the  expedients  which  fraud  and  ingenuity 
could  devise  to  cover  its  deformities.  It  was  then  and  not  before, 
that  authorities  were  produced,  no  doubt  many  of  them  elaborated 
in  the  manufacturing  shop  of  the  Vatican,  which  presented  to  the 
world  the  circumstances  of  this  event  under  a  new  aspect ;  and  the 
whole  transaction  has  been  veiled  in  mystery.  It  was  at  least  a 
ludicrous  interruption  of  that  regular  succession  in  the  apostleship, 
which  existed  only  in  the  imaginations  of  the  bigoted  advocates  of 
popery,  and  \vhich  had  been  frequently  before  interrupted  by  vio- 
lence and  bloodshed. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  Paulicians  cherished  an  abhorrence  of  the  worship  of  im- 
ages ;  and  were  therefore  the  inveterate  enemies  of  both  the  East- 
ern and  Western  churches.  They  differed  from  tliem  in  all  their 
religious  tenets;  but  in  none  was  the  line  of  distinction  so  clearly 
drawn  as  in  this.  In  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  Constantine 
IV.,  surnamed  Copronymus,  who  was  equally  uncompromising  in 
his  hostility  to  that  idolatrous  worship,  transported  from  the  cities 
of  Melitene  and  Tlieodosiopolis,  in  the  province  of  Armenia,  a 
great  number  of  the  Paulicians  to  Constantinople,  and  to  the  banks 
of  the  river  Hebrus,  in  Thrace.     About  the  year  750,  the  intro- 

'From  tlie  year  "95  to  t!io  yoar  900,  tlicro  were  twenty-two  occn[)ants  of  tlie  cliair 
of  St.  Peter,  from  the  accession  of  Leo  III.  to  the  dcatli  of  Jolin  IX.  Leo  III. 
reigned  21  years  of  that  time,  and  Greijory  IV.,  17  years.  Williin  the  period  of  67 
years  tlicre  were  twenty  pontitVs,  inchiduig  Joan.  Such  are  the  vicissitudes  of  liu- 
m:in  grandeur.  For  this  brief  enjoyment  of  power  and  vain  glory,  what  imagination 
can  conceive  of  the  intrigues,  the  violence,  and  tlie  assassinations  which  were  com- 
miltcd  ? 

■Papissa  Joanna.  "  Her  female  statue  had  its  place  among  the  popes  in  the  Ca- 
tliedral  of  Sienna."     Gibbon. 


9th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  137 

duction  of  this  sect  into  Europe  may  be  dated ;  and  througli  this 
channel  their  doctrines  were  doubtless,  at  an  early  period,  although 
imperceptibly,  translated  to  Italy,  France,  and  the  western  kingdoms 
of  Europe.  Their  settlement,  extending  from  tiie  Hebrus  to  the 
Danube,  along  the  shores  of  the  Euxine,  presented  a  bai'rier  to  the 
encroachment  of  the  barbarians  of  Scythia  upon  the  capital  of  the 
Eastern  empire.  This  was  doubtless,  the  object  of  their  trans- 
portation. 

At  the  close  of  the  last  century,  the  Paulicians  in  the  eastern 
provinces  of  Asia-Minor,  enjoyed  a  temporary  repose.  In  the  com- 
mencement of  this,  tlieir  religious  liberties  were  secured  to  them 
by  legal  exactments,  under  the  reign  of  Nicephorus  Logothetes. 
But  on  the  accession  of  the  emperor  Michael  I.,  Curopalates,  to 
the  throne,  the  fire  of  persecution  was  again  kindled.  His  succes- 
sor, Leo,  the  Armenian,  pursued  them  with  equal  inveteracy ;  and 
they  were  compelled  either  to  abjure  their  religion,  or  to  abandon 
their  country.  Capital  punishment  was  inflicted  upon  all  without 
mercy,  who  refused  to  recant  their  doctrmes,  and  to  unite  them- 
selves to  the  Greek  church.  Driven  to  desperation  by  their  suf- 
ferings, they  retaliated  on  their  persecutors,  by  the  murder  of  the 
bishop  of  New  Caisarea  and  the  governor  of  the  city  •,  and  either 
retired  into  the  recesses  of  Mount  Argeeus,  in  Cappadocia,  or  ob- 
tained a  protection  by  an  alliance  with  the  Saracens.  In  the  reign 
of  Theophilus,  from  the  year  829,  they  were  not  molested  in  the 
exercise  of  their  religion,  and  returned  to  their  native  |)iovinces. 
But  when  the  regency  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Theodora,  a  re- 
lentless persecution  was  commenced ;  and  they  were  pursued  and 
destroyed  by  fire  and  the  sword.  Their  property  was  seized  and 
confiscated,  and  cruel  tortures  were  inflicted  upon  them.  About 
one  hundred  thousand  are  supposed  to  have  been  put  to  death,  un- 
der circumstances  of  most  horrid  barbarity.  They  were  Icono- 
clasts, and  Theodora  was  a  devout  worshipper  of  nnages.  They 
were  opposed  to  the  government  and  superstitious  rites  of  the  Ro- 
mish church;  and  Adrian,  the  reigning  pope,  was  at  the  time  in 
friendly  alliance  with  the  queen  regent.  Their  destruction,  there- 
fore, was  equally  subservient  to  the  wishes  and  the  interests  of  the 
Eastern  and  Western  churches.  The  only  alternative  left  to  them, 
was  either  to  perish,  or  to  leave  the  empire.  Those  who  escaped 
the  sword  of  their  destroyers,  fled  to  the  caliph,  and  enlisted  under 
the  banners  of  the  Mussulmans.  They  were  permitted  to  entrench 
them.selves  within  the  walls  of  Tibrica ;  and  under  their  leader, 
Carbeas,  they  declared  an  exterminating  war  against  their  persecu- 
tors. With  various  success  on  both  sides,  it  was  conducted  for 
more  than  thirty  years  with  unrelenting  fury,  and  with  a  spirit  of 
extermination.  Michael,  the  son  of  Theodora,  having  taken  the 
reins  of  government,  marched  with  an  army  into  Syria;  and  under 
the  walls  of  Samosata,  at  the  foot  of  Mount  Taurus,  he  was  sig- 


138  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [9th  century, 

nally  defeated,  and  driven  back  with  ignominy  to  his  capitol.  Ciirys- 
ocheir,  who  succeeded  to  the  command  of  the  Paulicians,  extended 
his  conquests  into  Asia-Minor ;  seized  and  pillaged  the  cities  of 
Nice,  Nicomedia,  Ancyra,  and  Ephesus ;  and  rejecting  the  proffers 
of  gold  made  to  him  by  the  emperor  Basilius,  as  a  donative  of 
peace,  threatened  to  drive  him  out  of  his  kingdom  by  his  victorious 
army.  Basilius,  driven  to  the  alternative  of  victory,  or  the  abdica- 
tion of  his  throne,  with  the  forces  of  the  empire  entered  the  terri- 
tories of  the  Paulicians.  Chrysocheir  was  vanquished  and  killed, 
and  his  army  dispersed.  The  strong  fortress  of  Tibrica  was  cap- 
tured and  demolished.  But  the  Paulicians  were  not  extirpated. — ■ 
Although  defeated  and  dispersed,  they  retreated  to  the  mountains; 
maintained  their  religion;  and  for  more  than  a  century  after,  de- 
fended with  unbroken  spirit,  their  religious  rights,  against  the 
forces  of  the  empire  and  the  enemies  of  the  gospel.-  Many  of 
them  are  supposed  to  have  removed  into  Europe,  and  united  with 
the  colony  which  had  been  planted  in  the  middle  of  the  last  cen- 
tury, on  the  western  coasts  of  the  Euxine,  or  Black  Sea.  The 
people  who  inhabited  this  region  of  country,  extending  from  the 
Euxine  to  Servia,  and  from  the  Danube  to  the  Sardinian  Mountains, 
were  known  as  Bulgarians.  With  these  the  future  history  of  the 
European  Paulicians  is  blended;  and  will  be  pursued  in  the  narra- 
tion of  the  events  of  the  succeeding  centuries. 

The  idolatrous  worship  of  images  had  not  corrupted  the  whole 
clergy  in  Italy.  The  capital  of  Piedmont  furnishes  in  this  century, 
examples  of  true  piety  and  of  spiritual  religion.  This  region  which 
was  destined,  under  divine  Providence,  to  cast  a  luster  on  the  be- 
nighted Church  of  Christ  throughout  the  twelfth,  the  thirteenth, 
and  fourteenth  centuries,  produced  in  this  age,  a  faithful  servant  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  would  not  bow  the  knee  to  the  image 
of  Baal. 

Louis  Le  Debonnaire,  or  the  Meek,  whose  sons  had  been  exci- 
ted to  a  rebellion  against  him  by  Pope  Gregory  IV.,  perceiving  the 
utter  depravity  of  morals  whicli  pervaded  the  Christian  Church, 
and  desirous  of  checking  the  spirit  of  idolatrous  worship  which 
was  fast  corrupting  the  principles  of  vital  religion,  appointed  Clau- 
dius the  bishop  of  Turin,  in  the  year  817.  This  eminent  prelate 
commenced  his  episcopal  duties  in  823,  by  opposing  the  supersti- 
tious observances  of  the  Romish  church.  His  first  measure  of  re- 
form, was  the  ejection  of  all  the  images  and  crosses  from  the 
churches,  and  committing  them  to  the  flames.  In  the  following 
year,  he  prohibited  the  introduction  of  relics,  and  firmly  oj)posed 
the  veneration  paid  to  them ;  treating  them  with  contempt.  He 
openly  censured  those  who  undertook  pilgrimages  to  Palestine,  as 
acts  of  religious  devotion.  He  wrote  commentaries  on  several 
books  of  the  Old  and  of  the  New  Testament,  which  are  now  cx- 

'  Gibbon's  Roman  Empire. 


10th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  139 

tant.  His  labors  were  continued  for  more  than  twenty  years  ;  and 
were  signally  blessed  by  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  The  seeds  sown 
by  that  pious  minister  of  the  gospel  at  tlie  foot  of  the  Piedmont, 
took  root  in  the  valleys,  and  were  transplanted  to  the  mountains, 
where  for  many  centuries,  they  bore  abundantly,  the  precious  fruits 
of  divine  grace.  The  monks  reviled  and  threatened  •,  but  God  sus- 
tained him,  and  prospered  his  work. 


CHAPTER    VII. 

With  this  century,  commenced  that  era  in  the  history  of  the 
world  which  has  been  denominated  "</ie  Dark  Jlge ;''''  and  the  cen- 
tury itself,  has  been  called  "  The  iron  age  of  the  Latins."  There 
were  no  writers  of  eminence ;  and  the  pursuits  of  literature  were 
almost  entirely  abandoned.  In  the  East,  the  emperor  Constantine 
VI.,  made  some  ineffectual  efforts  to  revive  the  spirit  of  mental  in- 
vestigation, and  the  cultivation  of  the  sciences ;  and  presented  to 
the  world,  the  productions  of  his  own  mind.  His  treatises  on  po- 
litical government,  and  on  military  stratageme,  are  works  entitled 
to  praise,  as  verdant  spots  in  a  vast  desert.  In  Egypt,  the  Arabi- 
ans prosecuted  with  ardor,  and  not  without  success,  physical  and 
mathematical  investigations;  and  their  researches  in  chemistry  and 
astronomical  science  are  the  only  evidences  in  our  day,  of  a  positive 
advancement  in  knowledge.  In  the  West  there  was  scarcely  a  ray 
of  light;  all  was  mental  darkness,  moral  corruption,  and  spiritual 
blindness.  Rome,  once  the  seat  of  the  muses,  was  then  the  habi- 
tation of  popish  dragons,  and  the  den  of  monkish  owls.  The 
curse  of  Babylon  brooded  over  "  the  glory  of  kingdoms ;"  for 
"  their  houses  were  full  of  doleful  creatures ;  the  owls  dwelt  there, 
and  the  satyrs  danced  there,  and  the  dragons  were  in  their  pleasant 
palaces." 

In  pursuing  the  history  of  the  Church  through  this  century,  we 
traverse  a  dreary  wilderness.  For  the  honor  of  humanity  and  the 
sacredness  of  our  holy  religion,  it  migiit  be  wished  that  its  records 
were  effaced  from  the  pages  of  ecclesiastical  history.  Tlie  profli- 
gacy and  vice  of  all  orders  of  the  clergy,  a])pear  to  have  attained 
a  point,  beyond  which  they  could  not  go  without  a  total  subversion 
of  the  system.  The  history  of  the  successors  to  the  papal  throne, 
is  but  a  continued  nnrration  of  debaucheries ;  of  vice  in  all  its 
forms;  of  ambitious  struggles  for  the  pontificate  carried  on  by  vio- 
lence and  intrigue,  and  terminated  either  by  bribery  or  by  assassin- 
ation,    "  The  Vatican  and  the  Lateran  were  stained  with  blood. 


140  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [10th  ccntury. 

The  pontiffs  were  insulted,  imprisoned  and  murdered."  Within 
the  period  of  one  hundred  years,  no  less  than  twenty-nine  occu- 
pants of  the  throne,  stained  the  catalogue  of  the  successors  of  St. 
Peter. 

A  hasty  sketch  of  the  successions  whicli  occurred  in  tlie  course 
of  this  ccntury,  will  demonstrate  of  itself,  the  fallacy  of  the  preten- 
sions which  have  been  advanced  by  the  ultra  advocates  of  episco- 
pacy, to  a  continued  and  unbroken  ciiain  in  the  apostolic  succes- 
sion, throughout  the  several  ages  of  the  Christian  Church,  to  the 
present  time.  It  has  been  assumed  as  an  liistorical  truth,  that  "  the 
catalogue  has  been  carefully  and  providentially  preserved  from  the 
beginning."  This  has  reference  to  the  array  of  names  recorded 
in  the  archives  of  the  Romish  church,  of  bishops  who  have  occu- 
pied the  apostolic  chair  from  the  martyrdom  of  Peter.  "  The 
founders  of  the  established  church  of  England,  it  is  said,  were 
bishops  ordained  by  other  bishops,  precisely  as  is  the  case  at  the 
present  time.  The  bishops  who  ordained  them,  had  been  ordained 
by  other  bishops ;  and  so  back  to  the  apostles,  who  ordained  the 
first  bishops,  being  themselves  ordained  by  Christ."  ^  The  bishops 
whose  successive  ordinations  have  been  thus  traced  back  to  the 
great  Head  of  the  Church,  would  have  been  better  distinguished 
by  their  appropriate  title.  They  are  better  known  in  ecclesiastical 
history,  as  the  popes  of  Rome.  Through  these  prelates  of  the 
Church,  has  this  sacred  ministerial  office  been  transmitted  ;  from 
age  to  age,  and  amid  the  destruction  of  kingdoms,  and  the  revolu- 
tion of  empires,  and  the  inundations  of  Goths  and  Vandals,  sweeping 
in  successive  waves  over  the  states  of  Europe ;  through  all  the  po- 
litical convulsions  of  eighteen  hundred  years ;  and  transmitted  to 
the  present  time,  with  all  its  features  of  original  purity,  by  a  suc- 
cession unbroken,  and  with  a  title  indisputable.  This  is  the  ground 
which  prelacy  assumes,  and  upon  this  it  claims  an  exclusive  right 
to  preach  the  Word,  and  administer  the  ordinances  of  the  Church 
of  Christ.     A  very  singular  assumption  ! 

In  the  beginning  of  this  century,  the  bishop  who  stood  in  the 
regular  line  of  ordination,  known  in  ecclesiastical  history  as  the 
pope,  was  Sergius  III.  In  the  year  904,  by  the  assistance  of  Adal- 
bert, a  Tuscan  prince,  who  controlled  the  city  of  Rome,  he  ex- 
pelled from  the  papal  throne  his  predecessor,  Christopher,  who 
the  year  before,  had  dethroned  Leo  V.  within  forty  days  after  his 
accession. 

By  the  persuasion  of  Theodora,  (the  paramour  of  the  arch-bish- 
op of  Ravenna,)  whose  daughter,  the  celebrated  profligate  Maro- 
zia,  Adalbert  had  married,  that  ])rince  elevated  to  the  j)apal  throne 
the  arch-bishop,  who  is  known  in  the  catalogue  of  Romish  bishops, 
as  John  X.  John  is  distinguished  in  the  annals  of  history,  more 
for  his  military  achievements  and  debaucheries,  than  for  humble 

'Sermon  by  Bishop  Hook,  Chaplain  in  Ordinary  to  iicr  Majesty. 


10th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  141 

piety,  as  the  successor  of  St.  Peter.  After  the  death  of  Adalbert, 
Marozia  became  the  wife  of  Wido,  Marquis  of  Tuscany  ;  and  by 
her  influence,  John,  the  lover  of  her  mother,  was  deposed,  impris- 
oned and  strangled.  In  the  year  931,  the  throne  becominij  vacant 
by  the  death  of  Stephen  VII.,  Marozia  installed  as  his  successor, 
her  son,  the  fruit  of  her  licentious  intercourse  with  Pope  Sergius 
III.  He  assumed  the  title  of  John  XI.  But  in  933,  he  was  de- 
throned and  imprisoned  by  Alberic,  the  legitimate  son  of  Marozia 
and  Adalbert,  where  he  died  three  years  after.  In  95G,  Alberic, 
who  still  exercised  the  authority  which  his  father  possessed,  ele- 
vated to  the  pontificate,  his  son  Octavian,  a  youth  already  notori- 
ous for  his  vicious  indulgences  in  pleasure,  and  remarkable  for  the 
beauty  of  his  person.  During  his  administration,  the  papal  court 
was  disgraced  by  scenes  of  the  most  wicked  and  abominable  de- 
baucheries. "John  XII.,  the  grand-son  of  Marozia,  renounced," 
says  the  historian,  Gibbon,  "  the  dress  and  the  decencies  of  his 
profession,  the  soldier  may  not  perhaps,  be  dishonored  by  the  wine 
which  he  drank,  the  blood  that  he  spilt,  the  flames  that  he  kindled, 
or  the  licentious  pursuits  of  gaming  and  hunting."  This  holy  father 
"lived  in  public  adultery  with  the  matrons  of  Rome.  The  Laterau 
palace  was  turned  into  a  school  of  prostitution,"  ^  &c.  &c.  "  The 
bastard  son,  the  grand-son,  and  the  great-grand-son  of  Marozia," 
says  Gibbon,  "  were  seated  in  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,"  and  her  lover 
Sergius.  To  which  may  be  added  the  lover  of  her  mother,  The- 
odora, (John  X.)  a  woman  as  lewd  and  as  abandoned  as  her  daugh- 
ter. 

But  John,  impatient  under  the  restraints  imposed  upon  him  by 
Berenger  II.,  king  of  Italy,  invited  Otho  the  Great,  in  tlie  year  960 
to  relieve  v/ith  his  army,  the  oppressions  of  the  Church ;  with  a 
promise  to  crown,  and  to  proclaim  him  emperor  of  the  Romans. 
Otho  readily  embraced  the  oHer,  and  was  crowned  by  John,  "who 
swore  allegiance  to  him  as  his  lau'ful  sovereign."  This  obligation 
of  fealty  however,  was  forgotten  by  the  pontiff.  Otho  returned  to 
Rome  in  964,  degraded  him  from  office,  and  appointed  Leo  VIII. 
as  his  successor.  John,  in  the  absence  of  the  emperor  returned 
to  Rome,  and  forcibly  ejected  Leo  from  the  throne.  After  his 
death,  the  Romans  elected  Benedict  V.,  but  Otho  nullified  the  elec- 
tion, reinstated  Leo,  and  banished  Benedict  to  Hamburg. 

In  the  year  965,  John  XIII.  was  appointed  by  the  emperor  against 
the  wishes  of  the  Romans.  He  was  soon  after  expelled  from  the 
city,  but  restored  by  Otho,  and  enjoyed  the  possession  of  the  throne 
during  his  life.    Benedict  VI.  was  elected  his  successor.    But  Cres- 

'  "  Lateraiiense  palatiutn  .  .  .  prostibuluin  merctricum  ....  Testis  omnium  gen- 
liuin,  pinclcrquan)  Roinaiiorum,  absentia  mulieriiin,  qna3  sanclorutn  apostoloruni 
limiiia  orandi  gratia  timcnt  viscre,  cum  nonniilias  ante  dies  paucos,  liiinc  audicrint 
conjugatas  viduas,  virgines  vi  oppressisse."  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  tlic  Ko- 
mun  Empire. 


142  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [10th  ccntury. 

centius,  the  son  of  the  notorious  Theodora,  deposed,  imprisoned, 
and  strangled  him. 

As  disordered  as  were  the  affairs  of  the  state  and  Church,  the 
death  of  Otho  the  Great,  in  the  year  973,  removed  all  restraints 
upon  the  licentiousness  and  seditious  spirit  which  prevailed  among 
all  classes  of  the  community.  The  utmost  disorder  was  introduced ; 
and  intrigue,  violence,  and  assassinations,  determined  in  almost 
every  instance,  the  right  of  succession.  Boniface  VII.  was  elected 
to  till  the  vacancy  occasioned  hy  the  deposition  of  Benedict.  Be- 
fore one  month  expired,  he  was  driven  out  of  the  city  by  violence, 
and  Donus  II.  seized  the  vacant  chair.  In  the  year  983,  John  XIV. 
w^as  elevated  by  the  authority  of  Otho  III.,  who  had  recently  as- 
sumed the  reins  of  the  imperial  government.  Boniface  VII.  re- 
turned from  his  exile  in  Constantinople,  in  the  following  year,  and 
having  forcibly  recovered  his  seat,  imprisoned  and  strangled  him. 
After  his  death  there  was  another  occupant,  who  seems  to  have  ac- 
quired the  possession  by  stealth.  He  was  never  consecrated  to  the 
office,  and  held  it  about  four  months.  He  is  known  only  by  name, 
and  appears  not  to  have  been  duly  registered  in  the  sacred  cata- 
logue. His  title  however,  was  John  XV.,  and  he  was  either  the 
pope  for  the  time,  which  the  papal  writers  disallow  or  there  was 
an  interregnum  for  the  time,  and  a  clear  interval  of  four  months  in 
the  apostolic  succession. 

His  successor,  Gregory  V.,  was  elected  by  the  authority  of  the 
emperor;  but  Crescens,  the  Roman  consul,  expelled  him  from  the 
city,  and  supplied  the  vacancy  by  the  elevation  of  Philagathus, 
who  assumed  the  title  of  John  XVI.  Otho,  however,  soon  after 
entered  Rome  at  the  head  of  a  powerful  army.  John  was  seized, 
and  treated  with  many  personal  indignities  by  the  soldiery,  and  im- 
prisoned. Gregory  was  again  seated  in  the  pontifical  chair.  After 
liis  death,  in  the  year  999,  Otho  appointed  Gerbert,  a  man  distin- 
guished for  his  learning,  who,  as  Sylvester  II.,  occupied  the  chair 
until  the  year  1003. 

Thus  have  been  hastily  sketched  the  successions  to  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter,  which  occurred  in  the  tenth  century.  In  which,  it  must 
have  been  observed,  there  was  little  of  the  character  of  a  regular 
accession  of  "  bishops  ordained  by  other  bishops,"  as  must  have 
been  instituted  by  the  apostles.  In  this  catalogue,  thus  "  carefully 
and  providentially  preserved,"  not  less  than  twelve  of  these  apos- 
tolic successors  wore  deposed  by  violence ;  four  of  them  were  as- 
sassinated; three  of  them  were  the  illegitimate  offsprings  of  the 
dissolute  and  abandoned  Marozia ;  and  two  of  them  were  licentious 
lovers,  one  of  Theodora,  who  lias  been  styled,  by  infamous  dis- 
tinction, "the  Mistress  of  Rome;"  and  the  other  of  her  daughter, 
the  no  less  prostitute  Marozia.  Through  this  corrupt  channel  has 
been  transmitted  to  us,  the  only  divine  right  to  preach  the   gospel 


lOlh  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  143 

of  salvation,  and  to  administer  the  sacred  ordinances  in  the  Church 
of  Christ! 

A  remarkable  feature  in  the  transactions  which  have  been  rela- 
ted, is  the  exercise  of  a  right  of  nomination  by  tlie  Germanic  em- 
perors. Otho  tlie  Great  adjusted  the  confusion  and  disorders  which 
accompanied  the  elections  of  poiitiil's,  by  prohibiting  any  proceed- 
ings in  tlie  matter  without  his  sanction.  "The  senate  and  the  peo- 
ple engaged  to  prefer  tlie  candidate  most  acceptable  to  him  ;"  or  as 
it  was  expressed,  "  Firmiter  jurantes,  nunquam  se  Papam  electuros, 
aut  ordinaturos,  praiter  consensum  et  elcctionem  Othonis  ct  fili 
sui."  This  concession  was  observed,  or  rather  enforced,  through- 
out this  century. 

Notwithstanding  the  disorders  whicli  prevailed  in  Rome,  and 
the  reproach  which  was  unavoidably  attached  to  the  Church,  the 
advancement  of  the  diocesan  bishops  to  opulence  and  power  was 
not  impeded.  The  contests  which  were  carried  on  between  the 
princes  and  nobles  of  tlie  empire  afforded  them,  through  the  super- 
stitious reverence  in  which  they  were  held,  frequent  opportunities 
of  enlarging  their  powers  and  dignities,  and  of  adding  to  their 
wealth,  by  concessions  obtained  from  the  contending  parties.  Their 
temporal  interests  were  secured  by  new  acquisitions ;  and  from  this 
period  may  be  dated  the  titles  of  civil  distinctions,  which  afterward 
became  so  generally  attached  to  bishops;  such  as  dukes,  marquis- 
ses,  counts  and  viscounts.  The  bishops  received  their  ap[iointments 
from  the  princes;  and  this  high  dignity  was  generally  conferred 
upon  those  whose  wealth  enabled  them  to  advance  the  largest  sums  ; 
nor  was  it  unfrequent  for  those  in  their  minority  to  be  elevated  to 
this  ecclesiastical  order.  "  A  child  of  five  years  old  was  made 
arch-bishop  of  Rheims.  The  see  of  Narbonne  was  purchased  for 
another  at  the  age  of  ten." 

Concubinage  and  Simony  were  the  prevailing  vices  of  the  age, 
Matrimony  was  prohibited  to  the  clergy  in  the  Western  church, 
much  earlier  than  the  Eastern.  The  ecumenical  council  of  692, 
known  as  the  council  in  Trullo,  permitted  those  in  clerical  orders 
to  marry.  It  will  be  recollected  that  the  canon  on  this  subject  was 
one  rejected  by  the  Romish  church.  This  jirohibition  by  the  West- 
ern churcli,  was  however,  more  in  form  than  in  reality.  The  in- 
dulgence extended  to  the  clergy,  of  permitting  them  to  co-habit 
with  women,  not  as  wives,  but  in  the  character  of  concubines,  was 
more  demoralizing  than  a  rigid  enforcement  of  the  rule  would  have 
been.  In  some  of  the  papal  slates  of  Europe,  legal  provisions 
were  made  for  the  offsprings  of  this  illicit  intercourse,  by  vesting 
in  them  the  right  of  inheritance.  This  loose  restraint  on  the  priv- 
ilege of  wedlock,  was  in  this  century  wholly  disregarded ;  and 
even  the  monks  entered  into  the  bonds  of  matrimony,  much  to  their 
honor.  Upon  their  wives  or  their  concubines,  they  lavished  their 
wealth  with  unbounded  extravagance;  and  lived  in  a  style  of  prince- 


144  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [10th  ccntury. 

ly  grandeur.  Nor  was  it  before  the  middle  of  the  eleventh  cen- 
tury, that  Leo  IX.  attempted  to  enforce  with  rigor,  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal laws  enjoining  celibacy  on  the  clergy.  But  entire  success  has 
never  accompanied  their  efforts;  as  the  custom  was  introduced, 
and  is  still  characteristic  of  the  popish  clergy,  of  keeping  females 
in  their  houses,  {Mulieres  suhintrodudas  of  the  tiiird  century,)  un- 
der the  pretence  of  relationship  or  domestic  servitude  ;  but  who 
are  in  reality  their  concubines. 

Trafficking  in  ecclesiastical  preferments  was  another  of  the 
prominent  vices  of  the  age.  The  corrupt  purchases  of  spiritual 
benefices,  made  the  advancement  in  church  dignities  no  longer  the 
result  of  merit,  but  a  procurement  effected  by  fraud  and  bribery. 
Even  the  pontificate  itself,  became  the  object  of  this  corrupt  Iraf- 
fick,  as  will  be  seen  hereafter. 

A  Sicilian  hermit  received  a  revelation  from  heaven,  that  the 
prayers  of  the  monks  of  Clugni,  would  release  from  the  prisons  of 
purgatory,  the  souls  confined  there  for  the  expiation  of  their  sins. 
This  proved  a  source  of  great  wealth  to  the  order  of  the  Benedic- 
tine monks,  who  had  been  recently  subjected  to  new  rules  of  dis- 
cipline, introduced  by  Odo,  abbot  of  Clugni.  A  yearly  festival 
was  instituted  by  them,  by  which  the  court  of  Oyer  and  Terminer, 
and  general  gaol  delivery  in  purgatory,  released  at  once  the  im- 
prisoned souls,  and  delivered  over  to  them,  free  passports  to  the 
celestial  regions.  This  spirit  of  universal  benevolence  w^as  soon 
extended  throughout  the  churches;  as  whilst  it  was  confined  to  the 
monks  of  Clugni,  they  were  the  only  recipients  of  the  profits.  Ac- 
cordingly, towards  the  conclusion  of  this  century,  a  festival  was 
formally  established  by  the  authority  of  the  pontiff,  and  inserted  in 
the  Latin  calendar,  to  be  annually  celebrated  by  all  the  churches. 

The  institution  of  "  the  rosary  and  crown  of  the  virgin,"  al- 
though attributed  to  the  thirteenth  century,  seems  to  have  been  in- 
troduced at  this  time.  The  superstitious  worship  heretofore  paid 
to  her,  was  improved  by  additional  rites  and  ceremonies. 

From  the  character  of  the  age,  it  will  be  naturally  and  correct- 
ly supposed  that  vice  and  immorality  pervaded  all  classes  of  socie- 
ty; and  that  the  Church  had  a  name  that  it  lived,  but  was  dead. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  Paulicians,  who  have  heretofore  occupied  a  conspicuous 
page  in  the  history  of  the  religious  persecutions  in  the  provinces 
of  Asia-Minor,  from  this  period  began  to  attract  the  attention  of 
the  European  states.  About  the  year  970,  the  emperor,  John 
Zimisces,  from  the  solicitations  of  Theodore,  bishop  of  Antioch, 
removed  from  the  province  of  Armenia,  a  numerous  colony  of  these 
sectaries  into  Thrace.  "  Their  exile  in  a  distant  land,"  says  Gib- 
bon, ''  was  softened  by  a  free  toleration."  These  were  settled  in 
the  valleys  of  Mount  Hainius,  bordering  on  the  provinces  of  Bos- 


11th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  145 

nia,  Servia,  and  Bulgaria.  They  not  long  after  occupied  the  city 
of  Philippopolis,  and  extended  into  the  provinces  of  Macedonia 
and  of  Kpirus.  In  the  next  century  we  shall  trace  their  progress 
still  further  westward,  into  the  states  of  Europe.  What  part  they 
took,  if  any  in  the  wars  of  the  Bulgarians  and  the  emperors  of 
Constantinople,  is  uncertain.  The  Bulgarians  were  in  association 
with  them  ;  and  as  it  is  said,  that  "  their  privileges  were  often  vio- 
lated hy  the  faithless  bigotry  of  the  government  and  the  cleigy," 
wti  may  naturally  suppose  that  they  participated  in  the  suti'erings 
and  the  brave  resistance  of  that  warlike  people.  In  the  year  1019, 
Bulgaria  was  conquered  by  Basilius  III.,  and  annexed  to  the  empire. 
About  this  time,  probably,  detached  colonies  of  them  emigrated 
westward. 

The  Paulicians,  in  their  ecclesiastical  government,  had  neither 
councils  nor  synods.  "  Their  doctors  were  called  Sunecdemi,  that 
is,  companions  in  the  journey  of  life;  and  also  JVotariV  They 
acknowledged  however,  no  distinctions  of  rank  among  their  preach- 
ers; and  the  only  remarkable  circumstance  attending  the  elevation 
of  one  of  them  to  the  clerical  office,  was  his  assumption  of  a  Scrip- 
ture name.  Their  copies  of  the  gospel  were  like  those  used  by 
other  Christians  in  every  respect,  without  the  alterations,  by  eras- 
ures or  interpolations,  which  the  Manichasans  had  inserted  in  their 
copies.  Which  determines  conclusively  that  they  were  not  identi- 
fied with  that  sect.  They  enjoined  upon  all  a  constant  and  atten- 
tive perusal  of  the  Scriptures.  A  Paulician  woman  inquired  of  a 
young  man,  if  he  read  the  Gospels,  his  reply  was,  "  It  is  not  lawful 
for  the  people,  {nobis  profanis,)  but  for  the  priests  only,  to  read 
the  Sacred  Scriptures." 

The  most  memorable  event  recorded  in  modern  history,  occurred 
in  the  close  of  this  century  ;  the  expedition  against  the  Saracens, 
who  occupied  by  right  of  conquest,  the  Holy  Land.  This  is  known 
as  the  crusade.  The  religious  zeal  which  animated  all  Euiope, 
with  the  wildness  of  insanity,  was  aroused  by  Peter  the  Hermit. 
When  the  feelings  of  the  populace  had  been  brought  to  a  proj)er 
state  of  excitement,  or  more  properly  of  frenzy.  Pope  Urban  II., 
convened  a  council  at  Placentia.  Two  hundred  bishops,  four  thous- 
and ecclesiastics,  and  three  hundred  thousand  laymen  assembled. 
As  nothing  decisive  could  be  done  by  so  numerous  and  promiscuous 
an  assemblage,  another  council  met  soon  after  at  Clermont,  at 
which  the  pope  was  present  in  person.  These  occurrences  took 
place  in  the  year  1095.  In  the  following  year  800,000  persons 
commenced  their  journey  to  Palestine.  It  was  neither  an  army; 
for  it  consisted  of  boys,  girls,  slaves,  malefactors,  monks  and  their 
necessary  concomitants,  prostitutes  and  profligate  debauchees;  nor 
was  it  a  march,  for  they  were  dispersed  over  the  countries  through 
which  they  passed,  pillaging  and  committing  acts  of  violence  upon 
the  persons  and  property  of  the  inhabitants.  There  was,  however, 
10 


146  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 1th  ccntury. 

a  well  disciplined  and  chivalrous  army,  under  the  command  of  God- 
frey of  Bouillon,  and  his  brother  Baldwin,  The  former  was  the 
representative  of  the  Church,  and  was  under  the  fatherly  guidance 
of  Peter  the  Hermit.  But  it  is  not  my  design  to  narrate  the  events 
of  this  expedition  ;  and  I  allude  to  it  only  so  far  as  its  consequences 
affected  the  affairs  of  the  Church. 

It  has  been  supposed  by  writers,  who  have  traced  the  results 
back  to  all  the  cifcumstauces  connected  with  its  inception  and  pro- 
gress; and  by  a  comparison  of  tliese  with  the  systematic  policy 
which  has  ever  actuated  the  Roman  pontiffs,  that  the  aggrandize- 
ment of  the  papal  see  was  the  principle,  which  governed  Urban  in 
sanctioning  and  urging  on,  the  adventure;  and  his  successors  in  sus- 
taining the  subsequent  attempt  to  accomplish  the  visionary  scheme 
of  expelling  the  infidels  from  the  Holy  Land.  Certain  it  is,  that 
the  results  increased  the  wealth  of  the  clergy,  and.  extended  the 
prerogatives  of  the  popes.  This  fact  clearly  ascertained,  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  characteristic  cunning,  ambition  and  avarice  of 
those  spiritual  potentates;  the  conclusion  seems  to  be  obvious,  that 
aggrandizement  of  wealth  and  power,  was  the  actuating  principle 
whicli  dictated  and  governed  them  at  every  step,  in  urging  the  pro- 
secution of  this  fanatical  and  disastrous  warfare. 

The  government  of  the  Germanic  empire,  under  the  house  of 
Saxony,  which  commenced  with  Henry  1.,  surnamed  the  Fowler, 
in  the  year  918,  and  terminated  witli  Henry  II.,  his  great-grand-son 
in  1024,  was  absolute;  and  the  pontiffs,  as  we  have  seen  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  preceding  century,  felt  and  acknowledged  its  power. 
From  this  latter  period,  it  was  transferred  to  the  house  of  Franco- 
nia;  and  although  the  princes  of  this  family  were  neither  wanting 
in  talents  nor  energy  of  charactei-,  the  strength  of  the  government 
gradually  declined.  Under  the  Suabian  dynasty,  which  assumed 
the  leins  in  the  year  1 138,  in  the  peison  of  Com  ad  III.,  it  was  con- 
tinually embarrassed  by  the  intriguing  policy  of  the  popes,  and  was 
finally  prostrated.  The  accession  of  Conrad  to  the  throne,  in  pre- 
judice to  the  claims  of  Henry,  surnamed  the  Proud,  of  the  iiouse 
of  Bavaria,  gave  rise  to  the  two  parties  known  as  the  Guclphs  and 
the  Ghibelins.  The  foimer  sustaining  the  claims  of  Henry,  and 
the  latter  those  of  Conrad.  The  one,  properly  reprcsentiiig  the 
Saxon  line ;  the  other,  the  families  of  Fianconia  and  Suabia.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  these  names  distinguished 
the  parties  in  Italy  which  arose  in  a  controversy  with  the  popes. 
The  Guelphs  sustained  their  cause;  and  the  Ghibelins  op[)Osed  it. 
The  war  carried  on  between  tlie  [larties  is  known  in  history  as 
"  the  Sacerdotal  war." 

In  France,  the  death  of  Louis  V.,  in  the  year  987,  terminated 
the  Carlovingian  race  of  kings,  and  tlie  succession  devolved  on 
Hugh  Capet  by  an  election,  through  his  vassals  and  some  noblemen 
of  the  kingdom.     A  civil  war  ensued  in  consequence  of  the  right- 


11th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  147 

ful  claim  of  Charles,  duke  of  Lorrain  and  the  uncle  of  Louis,  to 
the  throne,  as  the  last  male  of  the  reissuing  family.  About  this 
time  a  new  tenure  was  established  in  France,  called  the  Fief  Life 
estates  were  made  hereditary ;  and  the  titles  of  nobility  may  be 
said  to  have  been  first  introduced.  The  possession  of  lands  con- 
ferred the  title.  This  change  in  the  ancient  feudal  tenure  took 
place  in  the  close  of  the  Carlovingian  dynasty,  by  the  increased 
power  of  the  governors  of  the  provinces,  and  the  imbecility  of  the 
reigning  nionarchs.  The  reign  of  the  Capetian  family  commenced 
in  987.  In  the  year  998,  Pope  Gregory  V.  annulled  the  marriage 
of  Robert,  who  had  succeeded  his  father  Hugh  Capet,  and  having 
excommunicated  him,  placed  his  kingdom  under  an  interdict.  Nor- 
mandy, Uauphine  and  Province,  were  no  longer  embraced  within 
the  limits  of  the  kingdom ;  and  its  power  had  evidently  declined 
under  the  government  of  Charlemagne's  posterity. 

William  the  Conqueror,  having  invaded  England,  obtained  a  de- 
cided victory  at  the  battle  of  Hastings,  and  ascended  the  throne  in 
the  year  1066,  and  from  this  period  the  connection  of  the  history 
of  that  country  with  that  of  the  papal  church,  assumes  a  higher 
degree  of  importance  than  heretofore.  Hallam  has  remarked,  that 
"  England  has  been  obsequious  beyond  most  other  countries,  to  the 
arrogance  of  her  hierarchy  ;  especially  during  the  Anglo-Saxon  pe- 
riod, when  the  nation  was  sunk  in  ignorance  and  effeminate  super- 
stition." The  bold  reply  of  William  to  Gregory  VII.,  when  he 
was  summoned  to  do  homage  to  the  pope,  for  the  kingdom  of  Eng- 
land, as  a  fief  of  the  apostolic  see,  evinced  a  spirit  of  independence 
which  his  predecessors  had  not  dared  to  exhibit,  "  To  do  fealty  I 
have  not  willed,  nor  will  I."     (Fidelitatem  facere,  nohii,  nee  volo.) 

In  the  year  1016,  the  Normans,  under  the  command  of  Raynulf, 
assisted  the  Lombards  in  expelling  the  Saracens  from  Italy.  They 
founded  the  city  of  Aversa,  of  which  Raynulf  was  appointed  count. 
They  were  afterward  employed  by  the  Greeks  to  drive  the  same 
infidel  intruders  from  the  island  of  Sicily.  At  this  period  the 
southern  provinces  of  Italy,  were  subject  to  the  Greek  empire.  The 
Normans,  deceived  by  the  emperor  of  Constantinople,  in  the  pro- 
mised remuneration  for  their  services,  invaded  Apulia,  a  Greek 
province,  which  they  subdued,  and  divided  the  territory  among  the 
twelve  counts  who  accompanied  tlie  expedition.  This  was  in  the 
year  1042.  In  1057,  Robert,  surnamcd  Guiscard,  having  acquired 
the  sovereignty,  united  Calabria  to  his  dukedom;  and  in  1071  he 
dispossessed  the  Greeks  of  all  their  Italian  provinces,  and  in  the 
following  year  expelled  ttie  Saracens  from  the  island  of  Sicily,  who 
still  retained  a  part  of  it.  In  1130  the  reigning  count  assumed  the 
title  of  king.  In  1 1 94,  Henry  VI.,  emperor  of  Germany,  disposses- 
sed William,  who  was  descended  from  an  illegitimate  branch  of  the 
Norman  line,  and  seized  the  kingdom  by  riglit  of  his  wife,  Con- 
stantia,  who  was  the  legitimate  heiress  of  the  throne  of  Sicily. 


148  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 1  til  ceiitury. 

Robert,  who  succeeded  his  father,  Hugh  Capet,  in  the  year  996, 
married  his  cousin,  llie  heiress  of  Burgundy.  Gregory  V.  annulled 
the  marriage  contract;  excommunicated  Robert,  and  laid  his  king- 
dom under  an  interdict.  ISo  lact  in  history,  so  remaikably  exhibits 
the  audacity  of  the  Roman  pontiff,  as  tins  act  of  Gregory.  He 
had  been  expelled  from  tlie  city  of  Rome  two  years  beloie  this, 
by  Crescens,  a  Roman  consul,  and  another  pontiti,  John  XVI.,  ele- 
vated to  the  papal  throne.  In  998,  the  German  emperor  restored 
him  to  his  seat,  and  with  this  positive  evidence  of  his  weakness,  he 
immediately  issued  a  sentence  of  excommunication  against  one  of 
the  most  powerful  princes  in  Europe;  laid  his  kingdom  under  an 
interdict,  and  virtually  dethroned  him.  'J'he  extreme  measure  of 
an  excommunication  of  a  crowned  prince,  had  seldom  been  aitempt- 
ed  before  this  period.  That  of  Lothaire  by  Adrian  II.,  was  pro- 
bably the  first.  The  same  pope  threatened  a  similar  sentence 
against  his  brother,  Charles  the  Bald,  who  had  seized  the  duchy  of 
Lorraine,  which  appertained  to  his  nephew,  Louis  II.  But  Charles 
disregarded  his  threats,  and  Adrian  tailed  in  his  purpose.  Inter- 
dicts were  still  of  a  later  <late,  as  iew  instances  occurred  of  their 
being  published  before  Gregory  VII.,  towards  the  close  of  the 
eleventh  century.  The  boldness  of  Gregory  V.  in  fulminating 
against  Robert  both  sentences  at  once,  when  he  was  unable  to  re- 
tain his  own  seat  without  the  sustaining  arm  of  the  emperor,  is  an 
evidence  of  his  confidence  in  the  superstitious  reverence  of  the 
people,  and  their  implicit  obedience  to  the  voice  of  the  Church. 

The  right  of  expulsion  is  inherent  in  every  voluntary  association, 
whether  of  a  religious  or  political  character.  The  primitive  apos- 
tolic church  exercised  this  right.  It  is  expressly  declared  in  Scrip- 
ture, as  a  rule  by  which  the  Church  may  preserve  its  purity,  that 
a  man  who  is  a  heretic,  after  the  first  and  second  admonition,  shall 
be  rejected.  The  power  given  by  Christ  himself,  to  all  of  the 
apostles,  of  binding  or  loosing,  and  thence  derived,  is  the  unques- 
tionable authority  for  the  exercise  of  this  right  by  his  Church, 
through  all  time.  And  the  Church  which  has  claimed  Him  as  its 
great  Head  and  Founder,  has  acted  upon  this  commission  through 
successive  ages  to  the  present  time. 

It  must  have  been  observed,  however,  that  the  penalties  of  a  sen- 
tence of  excommunication,  were  increased  in  severity  as  the  Cliuich 
acquired  additional  strength.  The  term  heresy,  itself,  has  embra- 
ced a  wider  field  of  oifenses,  as  this  power  was  magnified  ;  and  in- 
numerable oflenses,  and  indeed  such  acts  as  cannot  be  strictly  viewed 
in  the  light  of  offenses,  were  stigmatized  as  heresies,  which  could 
not  have  been  within  the  contemplation  of  the  Scriptural  rule  when 
instituted.  The  term  heresy  is  declared  to  be  an  offense  worthy  of 
the  dreadful  expulsion  from  a  conmiunion  with  the  people  of  God. 
But  what  was  heresy.''  Originally  it  meant  nothing  more  than  a 
sect  (Jliresis^)  and  expresses  also,  the  choice  which  a  person  may 
make  of  a  sect,  or  mode  of  doctrine;  without  attaching  to  the 


11th  century.]  the  church  op  chuist.  149 

choice  or  to  the  doctrine  either  censure  or  criminality.  The  Apos- 
tle l^aul  says,  "Alter  tiie  most  straitest  sect  (or  heresy)  of  our 
relii^ion,  i  lived  a  Pliarisee."  Christianity  was  called  heresy,  and 
the  orator  Tertullus,  in  his  accusation  of  Paul  before  Felix,  charges 
him  with  beinij  a  rinj^leader  of  (he  sect  of  the  Nazarenes.  Paul 
in  his  defense,  replies  by  confessing,  that  after  the  way  which  they 
(the  Jews,)  call  heresy,  so  worshipped  he  the  God  of  his  fathers. 
The  Jews  may  have  used  the  term  as  one  of  reproach,  but  Paul 
did  not.  This  apostle  however,  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians,  in- 
clu  les  "  heresies"  in  his  enumeration  of  the  works  of  the  tiesh. 
And  it  may  be  observed,  that  in  this  enumeration  many  other  of- 
fenses are  included,  some  of  which  would  now  be  deemed  heresy 
by  a  pure  and  orthodox  church,  such  as  the  worshipping  of  idols, 
the  superstitious  practices  in  witchcraft,  creating  seditions,  &c.  If 
then,  agreeably  to  what  seems  in  Scripture,  to  be  the  import  of  the 
term,  we  define  it,  as  implying  nothing  more  than  a  fundamental 
error  in  Christian  doctrine,  or  a  departure  from  the  truths  clearly 
laid  down  in  the  Word  of  God;  it  will  be  evident  that  the  papal 
churcli  has  indulged  in  an  unwarrantable  latitude  in  its  exercise  of 
the  right  of  expelling  its  members  from  its  communion. 

As  to  the  extent  of  this  excommunication,  by  the  primitive 
churches,  or  the  consequences  of  the  sentence;  it  was  intended  as 
an  excision  of  memhersiiip,  and  nothing  more.  The  ejected  delin- 
quent returned  to  his  former  associations  in  the  world,  and  the 
Ctiurch  took  no  further  cognizance  of  his  conduct;  nor  did  it  in- 
terfere afterward  with  his  public  or  private  relations.  He  was  ab- 
solved from  all  connection  with  it;  and  was  left  free  to  engage  in 
his  worldly  pursuits.  But  the  papal  church  does  not  withhold  its 
inflictions  at  this  point.  Wherever  and  whenever  it  has  had  the 
power,  the  excommunicated  member  has  been  pursued  with  a  wrath 
unappeasable;  and  with  a  vindictiveness  of  spiiit  that  arrests  not 
the  persecution  of  its  anathematized  victim,  until  the  rack,  the  i;ib- 
bit,  or  till!  fire,  has  left  the  body  a  lifeless  and  corrupted  mass;  and 
as  the  last  act  of  demoniacal  exasperation,  it  consigns  the  soul  to 
the  eternal  torments  of  the  damned  in  hell,  and  casts  the  body  u[)on 
the  highway  to  be  devoured  by  dogs  and  vultures. 

The  king  of  France  incurred  the  spiritual  censures  of  the  Church 
for  having  married  a  cousin.  A  sentence  of  excommunication  was 
pronounced  against  him  from  the  throne  of  the  Vatican.  As  a  man 
infected  with  the  le[)rosy,  he  was  shunned  by  his  own  household. 
Two  domestics  who  were  permitted  to  present  to  him,  his  daily 
food,  threw  into  the  fire  whatever  was  left  upon  his  table,  believ- 
ing them  to  have  been  polluted  by  his  touch.  The  consequences 
of  an  excommunication,  were  an  exclusion  from  all  social  inter- 
course; a  bier  would  be  placed  before  his  door;  his  person  was 
avoided;  stones  nould  be  thrown  at  his  dweHinu:;  and  when  he 
died  his  body  was  denied  the  rite  of  burial.     Those  who  might 


150  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1  Itli  cenlury. 

have  dared  to  associate  with  him,  were  visited  with  the  penalty  of 
a  "  lesser  excommunication ;"  exclusion  from  church  privileges, 
and  rigid  penance.^ 

But  severe  as  this  sentence  was,  Gregory  pursued  his  object  with 
still  greater  severities.  The  kingdom  ot  France  was  placed  under 
an  interdict.  "The  churches  were  closed;  the  bells  were  silent; 
the  dead  were  unburied ;  no  rites  but  those  of  baptism  and  ex- 
treme unction  were  performed."  The  whole  nation  was  under  a 
sentence  of  excommunication;  and  the  gloom  and  the  silence  of 
death  pervaded  every  dwelling,  and  every  domestic  hearth.  Where 
was  that  paralyzing  power  that  by  a  word,  had  thus  prostrated  one 
of  the  most  powertul  princes  in  Europe?  On  the  papal  throne  in 
Rome;  vvhicli  the  puny  arm  oi'  a  consul  of  the  city  could  have 
shaken,  and  hurled  its  occupant  to  the  ground. 

The  presumptuous  and  daring  pontitl,  with  scarcely  the  force  of 
a  life-guard  to  protect  his  person  from  insult,  reduced  the  king  of 
France  to  an  liumble  submission  to  his  imperious  demands,  and  ob- 
liged him  to  violate  his  marriage  contract,  and  marry  a  princess 
more  acceptable  to  his  ghostly  lather.  Such  was  tlie  irresistible 
control  which  the  Church  had  obtained  over  the  popular  feeling. 

Gregory  succeeded  in  this  first  essay  which  was  made,  of  exer- 
cising this  great  spiritual  prerogative.  It  was  a  stupendous  ma- 
chine, which  no  daring  hand  had  touched.  But  now  that  it  was 
moved,  and  its  power  had  been  irresistible,  the  Christian  world  be- 
held it  with  amazement;  and  the  proudest  monarchs  were  made  to 
tremble  under  its  operation.  With  it,  Gregory  Vll.  compelled  the 
emperor  of  Germany  to  cross  the  Alps,  and  barefooted  and  alone, 
to  supplicate  his  forgiveness  at  the  gates  of  his  palace;  and  by  it, 
Innocent  III.  reduced  a  king  of  England  to  an  abject  and  slavish 
submission  to  his  terms.  The  last  attempt  to  exercise  this  prerog- 
ative was  in  the  year  1809,  when  Pope  Pius  VII.  hurled  his  anath- 
emas against  Napoleon.  But  the  reign  of  bigotry  and  superstition 
had  expired.  The  age  had  passed  when  those  spiritual  weapons 
could  be  wielded  with  etfect.  Euiope  was  engaged  in  a  conliict 
of  physical  powers,  directed  and  controlled  by  the  energies  of 
mind;  and  Pius  received  from  his  proud  conqueror,  the  humiliating, 
but  wholesome  lesson,  that  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  was  not  of  this 
world. 

Gregory  V.  was  indebted  to  the  emperor  Otho  III.,  for  his  ele- 
vation to  the  papal  chair;  and  retained  it  alone  by  iiis  intluence. 
His  successors  were  entirely  dependent  upon  the  power  of  the  em- 
pire, for  the  confirmation  of  lluiir  election,  and  indeed,  for  their  re- 
tention of  the  office.  Tiie  (irst  instance  of  a  deviation  from  the 
rule  ^v^lich  had  been  uniformly  ol)S(;rved  from  the  time  of  Otho  the 
Great  of  referring  to  the  emperor  for  a  sanction  of  the  choice  of 
a  candidate,  occurred  in  the  year  lOGl,  when  Alexander  II.  \vas 

'Hallam^s  Middle  Ages. 


11th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  151 

elected  and  consecrated,  without  any  application  having  heen  made 
to  the  emperor  for  his  assent.  The  reason  prohably  was,  that  Henry 
IV.  was  still  in  his  minority,  and  disorders  prevailed  in  the  imperial 
court  on  the  subject  of  the  regency.  His  successor,  Gregory  VII.,' 
who  was  elected,  deferred  his  consecration  until  he  had  received  the 
approval  of  Henry. 

This  haughty  and  ambitious  prelate,  who  is  perhaps  better  known 
by  the  name  of  Hildebrand,  was  engaged  in  a  controversy  with 
Henry,  soon  after  his  elevation  to  the  pontificate,  on  the  subject  of 
investitures.  This  was  continued  by  his  successors,  and  was  con- 
cluded in  the  following  or  twelfth  century,  by  a  compromise  be- 
tween Calixtus  II.  and  the  emperor  Henry  V.,  in  a  general  diet  at. 
Worms,  in  the  year  11.22.  It  may  be  here  stated,  that  the  popes 
were  still  elected  by  the  citizens,  the  laity  as  well  as  the  clergy 
giving  their  votes.  It  may  easily  be  conjectured  by  whom,  in  the 
choice  of  a  candidate,  the  election  was  really  ftiade.  From  the 
reign  of  Charles  the  Bald,  to  that  of  Otho  the  Great,  or  for  the 
period  of  seventy  years,  the  greatest  confusion,  discord  and  civil 
wars,  prevailed  in  the  city  at  the  recurrence  of  every  vacancy. 
Bribery  and  bloodshed  generally  determined  the  issue.  Even  under 
the  control  of  the  Saxon  princes  who  ruled  the  empire,  we  have 
seen,  in  the  history  of  the  last  century,  that  violence  and  anarchy 
universally  prevailed.  In  pursuing  the  progress  of  events  through 
this  century,  we  shall  find  the  successions  to  the  apostolic  chair,  de- 
termined by  the  same  principles  of  misrule.  In  the  year  1047, 
there  was  an  expressed  concession  of  the  right  of  nomination  made 
to  Henry  III.,  which  he  exercised  manifestly  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Church.  Some  radical  changes  in  the  mode  of  election  were  made 
in  this  century,  which  will  be  noticed. 

In  the  year  1012,  there  were  two  competitors  for  the  papal 
throne,  Benedict  and  Gregory.  The  former  was  elected,  but  was 
soon  after  expelled  from  Rome.  By  the  interference  of  the  em- 
peror, Henry  II.,  he  was  restored,  and  Gregory  banished.  It  was 
at  this  time,  that  the  Normans  were  engaged  in  those  celebrated 
wars  which  terminated  in  the  expulsion,  first  of  the  Saracens  and 
then  of  the  Greeks,  from  Italy  and  Sicily. 

Benedict  IX.  was  raised  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  in  the  year 
1033.  Some  writers  affirm  that  he  was  at  the  time  but  twelve 
years  of  age;  this  however  is  improbable.  It  is  admitted  that  he 
was  but  a  youth;  but  like  one  of  his  predecessors,  John  XII., 
though  young  in  years,  he  was  matured  in  crimes  of  the  most  atro- 
cious character.  So  intolerable  were  his  vices  that  the  Roman 
citizens  expelled  him  from  the  city.  He  was  forcibly  reinstated  by 
the  emperor  Conrad,  and  was  again  in  1011,  driven  out  of  Rome; 
and  Sylvester  was  elected  to  fill  the  vacant  chair.  About  three 
months  after,  Benedict  returned,  deposed  Sylvester,  and  re-assumed 
the  reins  of  government.     Apprehensive,  however,  of  the  indigna- 


152  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 1th  ccnlury 

tion  of  the  populace,  he  sold  his  right  to  an  arch-presbyter  of 
Rome,  who  took  possession  of  St.  Peter's  chair  by  virtue  of  his 
purchase,  and  rejoiced  in  the  title  of  Gregory  VI.  Thus  were 
there  two  successors ;  Gregory,  by  an  act  of  Simony,  and  Sylves- 
ter III.,  by  election.  The  papal  writers  admit  the  former  to  have 
been  the  legitimate  pope,  and  his  name  is  honorably  enrolled  in 
"that  catalogue  which  has  been  carefully  and  providentially  pre- 
served." Sylvester  is  styled  an  anti-pope.  By  a  council  convened 
at  Sutri,  at  the  instance  of  the  emperor  Henry  111.,  in  the  year 
1046,  Benedict,  Sylvester  and  Gregory,  were  pronounced  equally 
unworthy  of  the  pontificate,  and  another  was  appointed,  who  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Clement  II.  Clement  died  soon  after;  and 
Benedict,  after  having  been  twice  deposed  by  the  people  of  Rome, 
had  disposed  of  his  right  for  a  valuable  consideration,  and  was  de- 
clared unworthy  of  the  office  by  an  ecclesiastical  council,  returned 
and  occupied  the  chair  until  1048.  Henry  sent  from  Geimany,  the 
bishop  of  Brixen,  whom  he  had  elected  pope,  and  who  reigned  but 
twenty-three  days,  as  Damasus  II.  Benedict  withdrew  on  the  arri- 
val of  Damasus. 

In  the  year  1058,  the  bishop  of  Veletri,  usurped  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter,  without  a  pretext  of  right,  and  occupied  it  nine  months  as 
Benedict  X.  He  was  deposed  by  the  bishop  of  Florence,  who  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Nicolas  II.  Under  the  administration  of  this 
pontiil",  an  important  change  was  made  in  the  electoral  college. 
That  this  might  be  better  understood,  it  is  proper  here  to  make  a 
short  explanatory  statement. 

The  ecclesiastical  division  of  a  diocese  into  parishes  is  clearly- 
defined  in  the  decrees  of  councils  as  early  as  tlie  fifth  century;  and 
there  is  no  doubt  of  its  existence  at  a  much  earlier  period  in  the 
history  of  the  Church ;  as  early  as  tlie  office  of  a  diocesan  bishop 
was  instituted.  These  subdivisions  of  a  diocese  were  called  in 
Greek,  paroikia^  from  the  verb  paroikeo^  to  dwell  near.  Over  each 
of  these  paroikia,  or  (what  was  intended  to  be  expressed)  neigh- 
boring churches^  a  presbyter  presided  ;  and  therefore  each  parish 
was  properly  speaking  the  circuit  or  extent  of  a  presbyteiial  pas- 
torship. Tliese  distinctions  were  recognized  in  the  organization 
of  the  Church,  from  the  peiiod  when,  according  to  Gibbon,  "The 
lofty  title  of  bishop  began  to  raise  itself  above  the  humble  a})pella- 
tion  of  presbyter,"  and   for  many  centuries  after.'     In  lime  two 

'In  the  daj's  of  tlie  npostlrs  and  for  pomo  time  after,  the  separate  and  distinct  re- 
ligions associations  in  the  populous  towns  and  cilies,  were  cliiirclirs ;  each  of  which 
WHS  under  tiie  ()aslotship  oi  an  elder  or  presbyter,  who  liy  virtue  of  his  ofiice  of  over- 
seer, was  also  entitled  a  liisiioj).  'I'liere  was  no  organized  church  without  un  elder 
or  bishop,  to  take  the  oversight  of  it,  and  to  preach  tlie  gospel.  'I'hese  several  epis- 
copates heeanie  in  time  united  under  one  head,  who  was  by  distinction,  an  episcopal 
presbyter,  and  was  sl3']ed  bishop,  whilst  those  under  hun  were  called  presbyters. 
'I'hese  contiguous  or  neighhonng  churches  were  denominati'd  jiarcilda,  or  parishes, 
and  were  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  l)isliop.  The  preshyteis  themselves,  as  men- 
tioned above,  were  also  distinguished  by  the  title  of  cardinal;  from  the  Latin  cardo, 
a  hinge,  "  In  eo  cardo  rei  res/i/ttr."     Cic. 


1 1  th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  153 

grades  of  churches  were  established.  Tlie  higher  in  dignity  were 
those  which  were  under  the  presbyters,  and  corresponded  with  the 
parishes  of  the  present  day.  Tliese  were  first  called  "<i'/es;"  and 
the  ministers  over  them,  "■priests.''''  LSubscquently  they  were  desig- 
nated as  '■'•  cardiiiales''''  or  '•'•  cardinal  lilies;^''  and  the  priests  who 
ministered  over  them  were  styled  '■'■cardinals.''''  In  the  ninth  cen- 
tury, they  are  mentioned  as  cardinal  presbyters.  From  this  order, 
the  bishops  of  Uoine,  or  the  popes,  after  those  bishops  were  ele- 
vated to  tiiat  dignity,  w^ere  usually  elected  when  fraud  or  violence 
did  not  interpose  to  bias  the  election.  This  was  considered  a  rule 
so  well  established,  as  late  as  the  close  of  the  ninth  century,  that 
one  of  the  popes,'  sometime  after  his  death,  was  exhumed,  the 
body  subjected  to  a  judicial  trial,  the  head  and  the  three  fingers 
used  in  consecration  were  cut  otf,  and  all  his  ordinances  annulled, 
on  the  ground  that  he  was  the  bishop  of  Ostia,  and  not  a  cardinal 
presbyter,  at  the  time  of  his  election  to  the  papal  chair.  It  was  the 
duty  of  tliese  cardinals  to  attend  the  popes'  councils.  They  were 
entitled  to  seats  in  the  synods;  with  the  privilege  of  expressing 
their  opinions  on  ecclesiastical  affairs.  They  attended  the  pope  in 
his  celebration  of  mass,  and  in  his  processions.  There  were  twen- 
ty-eight of  these  parishes,  or  principal  churches,  m  the  city  of 
Rome;  and  each  parish  was  governed  by  a  cardinal  presbyter,  or 
cardinal  clerk,  as  he  is  called  in  the  decree  of  Nicolas  II.,  which 
shall  shortly  be  referred  to  more  particularly. 

The  inferior  grade  of  churches,  embraced  what  were  called 
deaneries;  their  ministers  were  deans  or  deacons,  who  were  in  the 
course  of  time  distinguished  as  cardinal  deacons.  These  were  hos- 
pitals for  the  poor.  The  ecclesiastical  establishments  known  as 
oratories,  were  chapels  in  which  the  mass  was  celebrated;  but  the 
sacrament  was  not  administered. 

There  was  also  what  was  termed  the  ecclesiastical  senate ;  com- 
posed of  the  seven  cardinal  bishops  who  ruled  over  the  suburban 
dioceses  of  Ostia,  Porto,  Velitrae,  Tusculum,  Praineste,  Tibur,  and 
the  Sabines.  These  cardinal  bishops  were  sutfiagans  of  the  pope 
as  patriarch  or  Metropolitan.  They  were  also  entitled  in  the  decree 
of  Nicolas,  '■'■  comprovinciales  episcopi.'''' *  This  senate  consecrated 
the  Roman  pontitf,  after  the  assent  of  the  emperors  to  the  election 
was  received.  With  these  explanatory  statements,  the  decree  of 
Nicolas  which  changed  tlie  ancient  mode  of  electing  the  pontiffs 
will  be  better  understood. 

By  that  decree,  upon  a  vacancy  occurring  in  the  Roman  see,  the 
senate  of  suburban  bishops  deliberated  on  the  pioper  choice  of  a 
successor,  and  after  their  selection  of  a  suitable  candidate,  they 
called  in  the  counsel  of  the  cardinal  presl)yt(Ms.  These  together 
constituted  what  was  called  the  electoral  college.    The  rest  of  the 

'Fonnosus ;  in  the  year  896. 


154  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHuisT.  [1 1th  ceiitury. 

clergy  and  the  people  were  then  called  on  to  give  their  sanction  to 
the  proceeding.  So  that  although  the  laity  were  not  then  excluded 
from  a  participation  in  the  election  of  the  pontiffs,  a  foundation  was 
laid  for  their  future  exclusion ;  which  was  accomplished  in  the  fol- 
lowing century.  For  when  in  the  year  1181,  the  death  of  Alex- 
ander III.,  occasioned  a  vacancy  in  the  pontificate,  his  successor 
Lucius  III.,  was  elected  and  consecrated  without  the  consent  of  the 
clergy  and  people.  The  electoral  college  of  cardinals  controlled 
the  whole  proceeding.  From  that  period,  the  popes  have  been  uni- 
formly elected  by  that  body  alone. 

Before  the  decree  of  Nicolas,  not  only  the  votes  of  the  cardi- 
nals, but  the  suffrages  of  the  whole  Roman  clergy,  the  nobility,  the 
burgesses,  and  the  assembly  of  the  people,  were  necessary  to  de- 
termine the  election  of  a  pontiff. 

After  the  death  of  Nicolas,  the  bishop  of  Lucca  was  elected, 
and  was  consecrated  to  the  office  as  Alexander  II.,  without  the  con- 
sent of  Henry  IV.,  or  the  regency  of  the  empire.  The  decree  of 
Nicolas  expressly  admitted  tliis  right  of  sanctioning  or  annulling 
the  acts  of  the  electoral  college  in  Henry,  by  declaring  that  "  all 
this  shall  be  done  without  any  prejudice  to  the  honor  of  our  dear 
son  Henry,  who  is  now  king  and  shall  soon  be  emperor,"  &c.  Ag- 
nes, the  mother  of  Henry,  who  was  yet  in  his  minority,  assembled 
a  council  at  Basil,  by  whom  the  bishop  of  Parma  was  elected  pon- 
tiff, and  wfio  assumed  the  name  of  Honorius  II.  It  is  evident  that, 
according  to  the  plainest  construction  of  that  decree,  neither  of 
those  rival  claimants  were  entitled  to  the  succession  ;  the  election  of 
one  not  having  been  approved  by  the  emperor,  agreeably  too,  to  a 
right  admitted  and  exercised  from  the  time  of  Otho,  the  Great,  and 
previous  to  that  date,  for  many  centuries  before  by  the  emperors; 
and  that  of  the  other  having  been  informal,  although  sanctioned  by 
the  regency  of  the  empire.  So  far  as  precedents  may  govern,  the 
claim  of  Honorius  was  unquestionable.  The  popes  for  ages  back, 
with  occasional  exceptions  only,  had  uniforndy  deferred  their  con- 
secration until  that  a|)proval  was  obtained ;  or  held  their  seats  un- 
der the  authority  of  the  reigning  emperors;  and  indeed  in  man)'' 
instances  were  directly  ap])ointed  by  them.  Tliese  conflicts,  how- 
ever, are  incontestible  evidences  that  there  has  been  no  regular 
succession  to  the  apostolic  chair  of  St.  Peter,  agreeably  to  any  es- 
tablished laws  of  the  Church,  and  by  a  strict  construction  of  such 
ecclesiastical  ordinances,  as  have  existed  from  time  to  time,  scarce- 
ly a  pope  has  occupied  that  seat  who  was  not  a  usurper.  This  re- 
jection of  the  authority  of  the  emperor  at  the  first  vacancy,  which 
occurred  after  the  solemn  ratification  of  the  decree,  proves  the  am- 
bition, the  duplicity  and  faithlessness  of  the  popish  church.  The 
contest  for  the  papal  chair  was  carried  on  for  several  years  between 
the  rival  claimants;  and  was  sustained  on  both  sides  with  unabated 
fury  and  by  acts  of  violence  and  bloodshed. 


11th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  155 

On  the  death  of  Alexander,  in  the  year  1073,  the  celebrated 
Hildebrand,  an  arch-deacon  of  the  Roman  church,  but  formeily  a 
monk  of  Clugni,  was  elevated  to  the  papal  throne.  This  wily  pre- 
late secured  an  undisputed  possession  of  the  throne,  by  bavins^  his 
election  expressed  by  the  suffrages  of  the  cardinals,  the  bishops, 
the  abbots,  the  monks,  and  the  people.  Nor  would  he  consent  to 
be  consecrated,  until  the  emperor  had  contirined  his  election  by  a 
formal  expression  of  approbation.  Hildebrand  was  a  man  of  un- 
bounded ambition,  capable  of  forminj^  the  most  comprehensive 
plans;  his  genius  enabled  him  to  accomplish  all  the  objects  em- 
braced in  the  wide  scope  of  his  aspiring  and  enterprising  spirit. 
No  difficulties  could  intimidate  him.  No  dangers  could  shake  his 
resolution  or  impede  his  advance.  Devoid  of  all  moral  or  religious 
principle,  he  was  not  fastidious  as  to  the  means,  in  the  accomplish- 
ment of  his  purposes.  Universal  power  was  his  ultimate  object ; 
and  neitlier  his  conscience,  nor  his  religion  interposed  any  obstacles 
in  his  schemes  of  aggrandizement,  or  in  the  execution  of  his  plans. 
Such  was  the  character  of  Gregory  VII.,  against  whom  the  youth- 
ful Henry  had  to  contend. 

He  demanded  of  William  the  Conqueror,  homage  for  the  king- 
dom of  England;  which  he  claimed  as  a  fief  of  the  apostolic  see. 
He  claimed  France  as  a  tributary,  and  told  the  king  that  both  his 
dominions  and  his  soul,  were  under  the  spiritual  control  of  the  suc- 
cessor of  St.  Peter.  He  insisted  that  Saxony  was  subject  to  hitn 
as  a  feudal  tenure,  by  virtue  of  an  ancient  grant  from  Charlemagne. 
He  addressed  letters  to  every  prince  and  potentate  in  Europe,  de- 
manding from  them,  an  acknowledgment  of  their  allegiance  to  him 
and  tlie  payment  of  tribute. 

Gregory  contemplated  in  the  vastness  of  his  plans  of  empire,  a 
spiritual  judicatory  in  Rome,  which  would  decide  all  controversies 
between  the  sovereign  states  of  Europe;  and  would  have  erected 
a  tribunal,  under  the  authority  of  the  pontiffs,  with  appellate  juris- 
diction over  all  matters  of  an  ecclesiastical,  or  of  a  political  na- 
ture. 

About  the  year  1075,  the  contest  between  Henry  IV.  and  Gre- 
gory VII ,  on  the  subject  of  investitures  commenced;  in  which, 
after  many  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  Gregory  was  overcome.  This 
arose  from  the  efforts  made  by  that  pontiff  to  extirpate  Simony. 
The  object  might  have  been  accomplished,  had  he  prosecuted  his 
plan  with  more  moderation,  and  with  due  consideration  of  his 
means  of  executing  it. 

His  attempt  to  convene  a  council  in  Germany,  with  the  view  of 
inflicting  punishment  on  those  who  had  been  guihy  of  this  offense, 
was  opposed  both  by  the  emperor  and  the  German  bishops,  (jre- 
gory,  incensed  by  tliis  opposition  to  his  will,  assembled  a  council 
at  Rome,  by  which  he  not  only  excommimicated  certain  bishops, 
as  well  in  Germany  as  in  Italy,  who  he  supposed  had  counseled 


156  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 1th  ccntury. 

with  Henry  in  the  unlawful  presentation  to  benefices;  but  he  pub- 
lished an  anathema  against  all  bishops  and  abbots  who  should  re- 
ceive investitures  from  laymen,  and  against  any  of  the  h\tter  who 
might  confer  them.  This  decree  was  an  unqualified  abnegation  of 
a  right,  which  had  been  exercised  by  the  several  princes  of  Europe 
for  many  ages  before,  and  which  as  an  ancient  and  undoubted  right, 
they  were  not  disposed  to  rehnquish.  Before  I  proceed  to  the 
events  which  arose  out  of  this  controversy,  it  may  be  pioper  to 
remark  in  explanation,  that  an  investiture  is  what  is  termed  in  law, 
"a  livery  of  seizin,"  or  "giving  the  possession  of  a  manor,  an  of- 
fice, or  a  benefice." 

Agreeably  to  the  laws  of  the  feudal  system,  introduced  into  Eu- 
rope by  the  northern  nations  who  invaded  the  Roman  empire,  and 
overran  its  provinces  in  the  fifth  and  following  centuries,  a  fief  was 
conferred  upon  the  vassal  by  the  lord,  by  the  ceremony  of  the  for- 
mer doing  homage  and  taking  an  oath  of  fidelity,  and  of  the  latter 
investing  in  him  the  land  to  be  held  in  fealty.  If  the  tenant  be  not 
put  into  the  actual  possession  of  the  land  or  fief,  which  is  the  livery 
of  seizin  in  strict  construction;  something  was  given  to  him  by  the 
lord  as  a  representative  of  this  delivery,  and  which  was  equivalent 
to  it.  VN'hen  the  bishops  and  other  dignitaries  of  the  Church  ac- 
quired temporal  interests  in  the  sees,  over  which  their  jurisdiction 
as  spiritual  lords  extended,  it  was  necessary  that  they  should  be 
endowed  with  the  temporalities  or  fiefs  of  the  sees,  by  a  ceremony 
similar  to  that  by  which  other  fiefs  were  conveyed,  by  the  landlord 
to  the  vassal  or  feudatory.  Tlie  emperor  Charlemagne,  is  supposed 
to  have  introduced  the  formality  of  investing  the  bishops,  after 
their  consecration,  by  delivering  to  them  the  ring  and  crosier.  The 
ring  denoted  the  nuptial  bond  between  the  bishop  and  his  see.  The 
crosier  was  the  symbol  of  his  pastoral  character. 

The  ceremony  tfien  of  delivering  to  a  bishop  the  ring  and  cro- 
sier or  pastoral  staff  was  an  act  of  investiture;  and  was  similar  to 
the  actual  conveyance  of  feudal  lands  to  feudatories  by  the  lords, 
symbolically  expressed  by  the  delivery  of  a  wand,  a  branch,  or  a 
turf.  The  usual  forms  in  conferring  an  investiture  was,  as  soon  as 
an  incumbent  bishop  died,  the  superior  magistrate  of  the  province 
took  these  symbols  of  the  episcopal  office,  and  sent  them  to  the 
prince  who  had  the  right  of  investiture.  They  were  then  sent  or 
delivered  to  the  person  whom  he  intended  to  promote  to  the  vacant 
see.  The  new  bishop  thus  invested,  went  with  them  to  the  metro- 
politan, by  whom  he  was  to  be  consecrated,  and  delivered  them  to 
him.  After  consecration,  they  were  returned  to  him  by  ihc  metro- 
politan; and  he  was  thus  doubly  confirmed  in  his  office. 

The  clergy,  having  forgotten  their  sacred  character  as  the  min- 
isters of  the  gospel,  and  neglected  their  spiritual  avocations,  had 
obtruded  themselves  upon  the  temporal  affairs  of  the  world.  They 
grasped  after  dignities,  distinctions  and  wealth.     And  having  en- 


1 1  th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  137 

gaged  in  the  political  and  civil  conflicts  of  the  times,  they  aspired 
after  pre-eminence  in  the  allairs  of  the  national  goverunienis,  as 
well  as  m  all  matters  properly  appertaining  to  the  Cliurch.  Tliey 
were  ambitious  of  acquiring  power;  and  having  obtained  the  titles 
of  counts,  marquisses  and  dukes,  they  claimed  a  superiority  over 
their  compeers  by  virtue  of  their  sacred  offices  of  abbots,  bishops, 
and  metropolitans.  The  pope  himself,  who  had  become  a  temporal 
sovereign  and  a  proprietor  of  extensive  territories,  based  his  {)re- 
tension  to  universal  dominion  upon  his  spiritual  titles  of  apostolic 
successor  of  St.  Peter,  and  vicar  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Thus 
contending  for  both  civil  and  ecclesiastical  preferments,  they  beheld 
with  jealousy  every  exercise  of  a  power  not  invested  in  the  clerical 
orders,  and  were  impatient  under  its  control.  It  was  with  this 
spirit  that  Gregory  VII.  entered  into  conflicts  with  the  princes  of 
Europe;  and  during  his  pontificate  disturbed  the  peace  of  nations 
by  his  ambitious  projects  and  schemes  of  self-aggrandizement.  His 
pretext  was,  the  correction  of  abuses;  his  object,  the  attainment  of 
power. 

Urged  by  these  motives,  theabuses  and  corruptions  which  had 
undoubtedly  sprung  out  of  the  exercise  of  the  right  of  investitures, 
presented  an  open  field  for  the  display  of  his  spiritual  prerogatives. 
Instead  of  endeavoring  to  correct  the  evil,  he,  with  characteristic 
boldness,  struck  at  the  basis  of  the  institution,  and  attempted  to 
wrest  from  the  princes  of  Europe,  a  right  which  they  claimed  as 
appurtenant  to  the  royal  prerogative. 

Henry  resisted,  and  Gregory  summoned  him  to  appear  in  person 
at  the  Vatican,  to  answer  the  charges  alledged  against  him  of  Simon- 
iacal  practices  and  other  oflenses.  A  council  of  bishops  was  con- 
vened by  the  emperor  at  Worms,  in  which  Gregory  himself  was 
accused  of  many  flagrant  acts  of  a  criminal  character,  declared  un- 
worthy of  his  office  and  formally  deposed.  The  pontiff  exasperated 
by  the  sentence  of  the  council  and  the  contumacy  of  Henry,  j)ub- 
lished  a  bull  of  excommunication  against  lum,  and  absolved  his  sub- 
jects from  all  allegiance  to  him  as  sovereign ;  and  at  the  same  time 
called  on  the  princes  of  the  empire  to  displace  Henry,  and  elevate 
another  to  the  throne.  The  princes,  obsequious  to  the  mandates  of 
the  pope,  assembled  at  Tribur  in  the  year  1076,  determined  that 
the  controversy  should  be  submitted  to  the  judgment  of  Gregor}', 
that  Henry,  in  the  mean  time,  sfiould  resign  his  royal  prerogatives, 
and  that  unless  the  sentence  of  excommunication  was  withdrawn 
within  a  year,  he  should  be  finally  deposed.  Henry,  overpowered 
by  this  combination  against  him,  acquiesced  in  the  decision;  and 
amid  the  severites  of  the  winter  crossed  the  Alps,  and  went  to  the 
fortress  of  Canusium,  where  Gregory  was  quietly  reposing  in  his 
amorous  intercourse  with  Matilda,  the  young  and  beautiful  countess 
of  Tuscany.  After  i-emaining  three  days  at  the  gates  of  the  fort- 
ress, with  no  other  protection  from  the  inclemencies  of  the  season 


1 58  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 1  th  ccntury . 

but  a  piece  of  coarse  cloth  to  conceal  his  nakedness,  he  received 
from  the  haughty  pontiff,  the  absolution  he  submissively  importuned 
for,  under  the  condition  that  he  would  not  resume  his  royal  prero- 
gatives nor  his  title,  until  a  council  was  convened  to  determine 
Hnally  the  controversy  between  them. 

The  confederate  princes,  offended  with  the  obsequiousness  of 
Henry,  to  which  their  own  conduct  had  driven  him,  elected  Ro- 
dolph,  duke  of  Suabia,  in  his  place.  This  occasioned  a  civil  war 
in  Germany  and  Italy,  which  was  carried  on  with  doubtful  success; 
but  in  which,  the  wily  pontiff  uncertain  of  the  issue,  preserved  ap- 
parently a  perfect  neutrality.  The  battle  of  Flandenheim  in  lObO, 
was  unfavorable  to  Henry ;  and  Gregory  believing  the  conflict  to 
be  terminated  to  his  prejudice,  excommunicated  him  by  a  second 
sentence  and  sent  a  crown  to  Rodolpb,  and  declared  him  the  lawful 
emperor.  Henry,  although  defeated,  was  still  sustained  by  formi- 
dable forces.  He  summoned  a  council  of  German  and  Italian  bishops, 
who  deposed  Gregory  a  second  time ;  and  not  long  after  a  Synod 
at  Brixen,  in  the  province  of  Tyrol,  elected  the  archbishop  of  Ra- 
venna, pontiff;  wtio  assumed  the. title  of  Clement  III.  Another 
sanguinary  engagement  between  the  armies  of  these  rival  claimants 
on  the  banks  of  the  river  Elster,  decided  the  contest  in  favor  of 
Henry ;  who  marched  to  Rome  and  besieged  Gregory.  Having 
obtained  the  possession  of  the  city,  he  had  Clement  consecrated 
and  placed  on  the  papal  throne.  Gregory  fled  to  Salernum,  where 
he  died  the  following  year,  or  in  1085. 

Clement  occupied  the  seat,  and  was  acknowledged  by  the  greater 
part  of  Italy.  But  the  party  which  had  sustained  Gregory,  aided 
by  the  Normans,  elected  the  abbot  of  Mount  Cassin  in  opposition 
to  him;  who  is  known  in  history  as  Victor  III.  In  1087,  the  sup- 
porters of  the  claims  of  Victor,  obtained  possession  of  the  city, 
and  lie  was  consecrated  in  the  church  of  St.  refer.  Thus  were 
there  two  rival  popes,  both  informally  elected  and  both  consecrated 
to  the  office.  But  Clement  liaving  recovered  the  possession  of  the 
city,  Victor,  who  was  unaspiring  and  of  a  pacific  temper,  abdicated ; 
and  retired  to  the  monastery  of  Mount  Cassin,  wliere  he  died.  Be- 
fore his  abdication,  he  confirmed  the  laws  which  iiad  been  enacted 
by  Gregory  for  the  abolition  of  investitures.  By  his  recommenda- 
tion, the  bishop  of  Oslia  was  elected  his  successor,  at  Terracina, 
in  the  year  1088;  and  assumed  the  name  of  Urban  II.  It  will  be 
recollected  that  Formosus,  whilst  bishop  of  Ostia,  was  elected  to 
the  papal  chair;  and  that  one  of  his  successors  had  his  body  ex- 
humed, tried  and  barbarously  mutilated;  and  annulled  all  of  his  or- 
dinances; because,  when  elected,  he  was  not  of  the  order  of  car- 
dinal presbyters,  and  therefore  was  made  pope  against  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  holy  decrees.  Urban  was,  like  Gregory,  factious, 
overbearing  and  ambitious;  but  he  had  neither  the  talents  nor  the 
unwaveiing  firmness  of  his  predecessor.     By  his  instigation,  Con- 


11th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  159 

rad,  the  son  of  Henry  IV.,  was  persuaded  to  revolt  against  his 
father,  and  to  proclaim  himself  king  of  Italy.  To  this  rebellion, 
the  famous  Matilda,  who  had  been  the  paramour  of  Gregory,  con- 
tributed by  her  intrigues  and  her  influence.  Urban,  baiiled  in  his 
attempts  to  dispossess  Clement,  went  to  France,  and  there  in  the 
year  1095,  convened  a  council  at  Clermont.  By  the  decrees  of 
this  council.  Urban  (who  dictated  its  proceedings,)  prohibited  the 
bishops  and  other  clergy  from  taking  the  oath  ol  allegiance  to  their 
respective  sovereigns.  It  was  enacted,  "  That  no  bishop  or  priest 
shall  promise  upon  oath,  liege  obedience  to  any  king  or  any  lay- 
man." In  the  year  1099,  he  returned  to  Italy;  and  succeeded  in 
seizing  the  castle  of  St.  Angelo,  where  he  soon  after  died.  Clem- 
ent, who  had  been  consecrated  in  1084,  and  had  been  from  that 
time  to  the  year  1 100,  de  facto  pope,  has  been  excluded  from  "that 
catalogue  which  has  been  carefully  and  providentially  preserved," 
and  his  name  is  inserted  by  the  popish  wiiters  in  the  list  of  anti- 
popes.     He  died  in  1 100,  and  was  succeeded  by  Pascal  II. 

In  the  year  1053,  the  contest  between  the  Greek  and  Latin 
churches  was  renewed ;  by  charges  alledged  by  Micliael  Cerula- 
rius,  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  against  tlie  popish  church,  and 
which  occasioned  a  lengthened  and  bitter  controversy  between 
them.  With  a  view  of  terminating  these  dissensions,  Constantine, 
surnamed  Monomachus,  the  emperor  of  the  East,  requested  the 
pontiff,  Leo  IX.,  to  send  legates  to  Constantinople.  Leo  was  aware, 
however,  that  Constantine  was  extremely  anxious  to  propitiate  his 
favor,  and  through  him  the  friendship  of  Henry  III.,  emperor  of 
Germany.  This  was  the  period  when  ihe  Normans  were  success- 
fully pursuing  their  conquests  of  the  Greek  provinces  in  Italy  and 
Sicily,  and  Constantine  desired  the  assistance  of  the  Germans  and 
Italians  to  regain  his  lost  possessions.  Leo  had  excommunicated 
the  Greek  churches  by  a  council  assembled  in  Rome;  and  the  em- 
barrassments of  the  Greek  empire  were  rather  encouragements  for 
assuming  a  haughty  and  threatening  tone  towards  an  ancient  enemy 
of  the  Romish  church. 

His  embassy  was  therefore  sent,  under  an  expectation  tliat  the 
favorable  circumstances  w'hich  have  been  mentioned,  might  he  di- 
rected to  his  advantage,  and  that  the  Eastern  hierarchy  could  be 
persuaded  or  intimidated  into  an  acknowledgment  of  his  supremacy. 
This  expectation  was  not  realized.  The  patriarch  was  unyielding, 
and  his  language  was  not  less  high  toned  than  that  of  his  adversary. 
The  legates  of  Leo,  exasperated  by  the  conduct  of  Cerularius, 
publicly  in  the  church  of  St.  Sophia,  pronounced  a  sentence  of  ex- 
communication against  him  and  all  liis  adherents;  and  depositing 
on  the  grand  altar  of  that  temple  a  written  anathema,  lliey  thun- 
dered ou«  their  curses  and  imprecations,  scraped  the  dust  from  their 
feet  and  departed.  Cerularius  in  his  turn  excommunicated  the  le- 
gates, and  the  written  anathema  was  indignantly  committed  to  the 


160  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 1  th  century, 

flames.  The  Greeks  had  accused  the  papal  church  of  using  un- 
leavened bread  at  their  communion,  of  eatings  the  blood  of  animals 
killed  by  strangulalion,  and  of  the  immoralities  and  vices  of  its 
clergy.  Such  was  the  issue  of  this  fruitless  attempt  in  1054,  to 
effect  union  and  harmony  between  these  tu  o  great  branches  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  if  such  they  really  were. 

Gregory,  in  the  second  year  of  his  pontificate,  convened  a  coun- 
cil in  liome,  which  renewed  and  confirmed  all  the  laws  against  Si- 
mony. This  we  have  seen,  occasioned  the  controversy  on  the  sub- 
ject of  investitures.  Anotlier  decree  of  that  council,  prohibited 
the  clergy  from  entering  into  bonds  of  wedlock;  and  imperatively 
required  those  who  had  wives  or  concubines,  either  to  dismiss  them 
or  to  resign  the  priestly  office.  As  few  of  the  clergy  were  without 
wives  or  concubines,  notwithstanding  the  prohibitory  laws  which 
had  been  passed,  this  peremptory  and  rigid  requirement  occasioned 
tumults  and  dissensions  every  where.  Many  of  the  ecclesiastics 
preferred  the  latter  alternative,  and  gave  up  their  benefices.  Some 
of  them,  incensed  by  tlfe  rigorous  enforcement  of  the  law,  with- 
drew from  a  communion  with  the  Romish  church.  Indeed,  Gre- 
gory "himself  should  have  been  compelled  to  abdicate  the  papal 
throne;  for  it  is  a  fact  well  authenticated  in  history,  that  he  lived 
in  open  concubinage  with  Matilda,  the  countess  of  Tuscany. 

In  the  Greek  church,  a  controversy  arose  concerning  the  sanctity 
of  images.  The  authority  of  the  popes  appears  to  have  settled 
this  question  permanently  in  the  Western  churches,  before  this  pe- 
riod. That  God  is  not  the  only  object  to  be  worshipped,  was  de- 
creed by  successive  popes;  and  the  Romish  church  may  be  said  to 
have  established  this  as  an  orthodox  doctrine,  and  an  article  of  pa- 
pal as  well  as  of  pagan  faith.  Alexius  Comnenus,  reduced  in  his 
resources  by  the  wars  in  which  he  had  been  engaged  for  the  pre- 
servation of  his  distant  provinces,  exhausted  the  treasures  of  the 
Church,  and  at  length  was  compelled  to  convert  the  silver  plates 
and  images  into  money.  This  drew  down  upon  him  the  execrations 
of  the  idolaters,  who  accused  him  of  sacrilege.  The  bishop  of 
Chalcedon,  alledged  this  charge  against  the  emperor;  and  main- 
tained it  by  the  declaration,  that  "  In  the  iimges  of  Jesus  Christ 
and  of  the  saints,  there  resided  a  certain  kind  of  inherent  sanctity, 
that  was  a  proper  object  of  religious  worship,"  and  that,  therefore, 
"the  adoration  of  Christians  ought  not  to  be  confined  to  the  per- 
sons represented  by  these  images,  but  extended  also  to  the  images 
themselves."  The  controversy  was  quieted,  except  as  to  the  op- 
position of  the  bishop,  by  a  council  which  decreed,  that  "the  im- 
ages were  to  be  honored  only  with  a  relative  worship;"  that  neither 
painting  nor  sculpture  partook  of  the  nature  of  the  persons  they 
represented;  although  they  were  enrirhed  with  a  certain  commu- 
nication of  divine  grace;  and,  that  "the  invocation  and  worship 
were  to  be  addressed  to  the  saints,  only  as  the  servants  of  Christ, 


11th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  161 

and  on  account  of  their  relation  to  him  as  their  master."  These 
doctrines  were  not  sufficiently  absurd  to  correspond  with  the  views 
of  the  bishop  of  Cbalcedon;  and  to  end  the  controversy,  he  was 
banished.  The  difference  between  the  Latin  and  the  Greek  churches 
on  this  point  appears  to  be  this ;  in  the  former,  images  are  the  ob- 
jects of  worship ;  in  the  latter,  images  are  excluded  from  the  sanc- 
tuaries of  worship,  but  pictures  are  admitted,  not  however,  as  ob- 
jects of  worsliip,  but  merely  as  memorials  of  I'aith.  The  Latins  are 
Iconolatrae,  the  Greeks  are  not.  I  vviij  here  advert  to  some  other 
points  of  ditference  between  those  two  churches ;  as  I  shall  not 
liave  occasion  again  to  refer  particularly  to  the  latter. 

Perhaps  the  rejection  of  the  spiritual  supremacy  of  its  head  or 
patriarch  by  the  Greek  church,  may  be  considered  the  fundamental 
distinction  between  it  and  the  Roman  church.  This  difterence  did 
not  arise  either  from  an  unaspiring  spirit  in  the  rulers  of  that  church, 
or  from  a  less  devotion  to  superstitious  observances  on  the  part  of 
the  Greeks;  but  it  is  attributable  to  the  circumstance  of  the  patri- 
archs having  been  always  under  the  immediate  and  direct  control 
of  the  emperors.  The  Roman  pontifl's  were  further  removed  from 
the  imperial  authority;  and  hence  they  very  early  acquired  an  in- 
fluence in  temporal  affairs.  The  primacy  which  was  conceded  to 
the  bishop  of  the  Roman  see  over  the  churches  in  the  West,  was 
founded  solely  on  the  fact  of  its  embracing  the  capital  of  the  Ro- 
man empire  in  that  portion  of  its  provinces.  When  the  city  of 
Constantinople  became  the  capital  of  the  East,  the  patriarch  of  that 
church  was  elevated  to  an  equality  of  dignity,  rank  and  power,  with 
the  Roman  pontiff".  There  was  then  no  pretense  of  divine  right 
advanced  on  either  side.  For  in  the  first  centuries  of  the  Christian 
era,  the  apostolic  churches  of  Rome,  of  Jerusalem,  of  Antioch, 
and  of  Alexandria,  were  each  supreme  within  its  own  jurisdiction. 
After  the  conversion  of  Constantine,  in  the  fourth  century,  com- 
menced the  remarkable  changes  in  their  relative  rank,  which  were 
continued  by  the  political  changes  wliich  occurred  in  Europe  and 
Asia. 

In  doctrines,  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches  differ  on  the  sul)ject 
of  the  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  The  controversy  on  this 
point,  it  will  be  recollected,  originated  at  a  council  in  Gentilli, 
(France)  in  the  year  767.  They  still  adhere  to  their  respective 
opinions.  The  former  maintains  that  the  Holy  Ghost  proceeds 
from  "  the  Father"  only,  the  latter,  that  it  proceeds  from  the 
"  Father  and  the  Son."  The  Greeks  reject  the  doctrine  of  purga- 
tory, although  they  appear  to  sanction  it  by  their  prayers  for  the 
dead.  They  also  reject  that  of  transubstantiation  ;  believing  with 
the  Lutherans  in  what  is  termed  consubstantiation.  It  may  be  re- 
marked here,  that  this  difference  of  opinion  on  the  nature  of  the 
elements  in  the  eucharist,  did  not  exist  in  the  eleventh  century,  nor 
indeed  before  the  thirteenth ;  for  it  was  not  until  the  council  (the 
11 


162  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 1  th  cetitury. 

fourth  of  Lateran,)  in  the  year  1215,  adopted  the  doctrine  of  tran- 
substantiation,  that  it  was  made  an  article  of  faith  in  the  Romish 
church.  In  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  both  the  bread 
and  the  wine  are  given  to  the  laity ;  and  even  to  children,  as  was 
the  custom  in  the  latter  church.  The  bread  is  leavened,  and  given 
in  a  spoon  mixed  with  the  consecrated  wine.  Nor  did  these 
churches  differ  in  the  administration  of  the  bread  and  wine  to  all 
communicants  before  the  fifteenth  century.  The  council  of  Con- 
stance, in  the  year  1415,  passed  a  decree  which  withheld  the  cup 
from  the  laity.  Since  that  time  the  communion  has  been  adminis- 
tered to  them  only  in  one  kind,  that  is  "  the  bread."  The  Greeks 
do  not  acknowledge  works  of  supererogation ;  nor  do  they  allow 
of  indulgences  and  dispensations.  They  also  reject  auricular  con- 
fession. Their  baptisms  are  performed  by  immersion ;  and  the 
chrism  is  used  after  it.  All  orders  of  their  clergy,  except  the 
monks,  are  allowed  to  marry  a  virgin,  but  not  a  widow ;  nor  can 
they  marry  a  second  time.  These  are  some  of  the  obvious  points 
of  difference  between  those  two  churches.  From  which  it  will 
appear,  that  though  they  are  widely  separated  in  rites,  doctrines, 
and  practices,  neither  approximates  the  religious  tenets  of  the  Pro- 
testant churches.  In  tlie  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
Melancthon  sent  to  the  patriarch  of  Constantinople,  a  copy  of  the 
Augsburg  Confession ;  with  the  expectation  of  effecting  an  union 
between  the  Greek  and  Protestant  churches.  Several  attempts 
were  afterwards  made  with  the  same  view,  but  these  efforts  have 
been  unavailable.     They  are  manifestly  impracticable. 

The  controversy  on  the  nature  of  the  elements  in  the  eucharist, 
after  consecration,  was  revived  in  this  century.  Berenger,  arch- 
bishop of  Angers,  in  the  year  1045,  maintained,  that  "The  bread 
and  wine  are  not  changed  into  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  in  the 
eucharist;  but  preserve  their  natural  and  essential  qualities;  and  are 
no  more  than  figures  and  external  symbols  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
the  divine  Savior."  Although  the  Church  had  not  then  spoken  with 
authority  on  the  subject,  the  doctrine  of  the  "  real  presence"  was 
favorably  received  by  the  pontiffs,  and  by  the  clergy  generally. 
Leo  IX.,  five  years  after  Berenger  had  advanced  his  opinion,  pro- 
nounced a  sentence  of  condemnation  against  it.  Three  councils, 
one  in  Rome,  another  in  Vercelli,  and  a  third  in  Paris,  sustained  the 
pontiff.  Berenger  was  steadfast  in  maintaining  his  ground ;  and 
the  controversy  subsided.  On  the  accession  of  Victor  11.,  in  1054, 
the  discussion  was  renewed ;  and  at  a  council  in  Tours,  Berenger, 
overawed  by  the  opposition  to  him,  and  the  menacing  language  of 
Hildebrand,  who  was  the  pope's  legate,  retracted,  and  abjured  his 
doctrine.  He,  notwithstanding,  adhered  to  them  in  sentiment;  and 
sometime  after  reaffirmed  his  former  opinions.  This  obstinacy  and 
duplicity  provoked  the  reigning  pontiff,  Nicolas  II.,  who  in  1058, 
convened  a  council  in  Rome ;  and  having  drawn  up  a  confession  of 


nth  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  163 

faith,  which  declared  "  the  bread  and  wine,  after  consecration,  to 
be  not  only  a  sacrament,  but  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,"  he  compelled  Berenger  to  assent  to  it,  and  to  confirm  that 
assent  by  his  signature  and  his  oath.  But  that  prelate  was  neither 
convinced  nor  silenced.  He  returned  to  Fiance,  and  declared  his 
detestation  of  the  doctrine  he  had  been  compelled  to  sign.  Gre- 
gory VII.,  ascended  the  pontifical  chair  in  1073,  and  at  a  council  in 
Rome  in  the  year  1078,  he  permitted  Berenger  to  withdraw  all  that 
he  had  been  forced  to  affirm,  and  to  draw  out,  unbiassed  by  any 
previous  proceeding,  a  clear  exposition  of  his  creed.  This  was 
done;  and  although  Gregory  expressed  his  approbation  of  the  doc- 
trine it  contained,  the  enemies  of  Berenger  declared  his  expressions 
ambiguous,  (which  they  were,)  and  insisted  upon  his  declaring  his 
opinions  in  a  more  intelligible  form.  In  another  council,  therefore, 
he  confessed  that  "  the  bread  and  wine,  after  consecration,  were 
converted  into  the  real  body  and  blood  of  Christ,"  &c.  This  how- 
ever, he  shortly  after  emphatically  repudiated ;  and  by  an  elaborate 
treatise,  sustained  his  opinion  and  exposed  the  absurdity  of  the  doc- 
trine contained  in  his  last  confession.  Nor  could  Gregory  be  in- 
duced to  prosecute  any  further  measures  against  him  or  his  doc- 
trines. Thus  did  Berenger  oppose  the  decrees  of  the  several  coun- 
cils which  had  condemned  him  and  the  acts  of  the  popes  who  had 
preceded  Gregory.  From  which  we  must  conclude,  that  not  only 
Gregory  himself,  but  the  Church  as  a  body,  approved  of  his  doc- 
trine. That  pontiff's  opinion  as  expressed  was,  that  "  It  is  impro- 
per to  pry  with  too  much  curiosity  into  the  mysteries  of  the  euch- 
arist,  but  safe  to  adhere  to  the  plain  words  of  Scripture,  "  contra 
quas  Berengarius  nihil  hahehat?''  Which  is  a  direct  sanction  of 
Berenger's  doctrine. 

The  Latin  language  had  long  ceased  to  be  the  vernacular  of  any 
of  the  nations  in  Europe,  and  was  intelligible  only  to  the  learned. 
Alexander  II.  and  Gregory  VII.,  who  made  zealous  but  ineffectual 
efforts  to  establish  an  uniform  system  of  rites  and  ceremonies  in  the 
public  worship  throughout  the  papal  jurisdiction,  endeavored  to  in- 
troduce the  Latin  tongue  in  the  performance  of  the  services.  The 
liturgies  then  in  use,  were  in  the  language  of  the  people  for  whom 
they  were  intended.  It  is  difficult  to  ascertain  what  was  the  object 
in  compelling  worshippers  to  pray  in  an  unknown  tongue.  Gregory 
was  indefatigable,  but  his  exertions  were  not  crov\  ned  with  the  suc- 
cess he  anticipated,  as  will  be  seen  in  the  history  of  the  thirteenth 
century.^ 

'The  Gothic  liturtry  was  mod  in  Spain.  The  nobles  of  Castile,  averse  to  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Latin,  referred  tiie  decision  to  single  combat.  Tlie  champion  of  the  Go- 
thic liturgy  was  victorious.  They  then  resorted  to  the  fire  ordeal.  A  Roman  and  a 
Gothic  liturgy  were  committed  to  the  flames.  The  former  was  consumed,  but  the 
latter  remained  in  the  fire  unhurt.  Tlie  authority  of  the  pope,  however,  (ire vailed 
against  the  issue  of  the  ordeals,  and  tlie  Roman  ritual  was  finally  adopted. 


164  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 1th  century. 

The  theologians  of  this  age  began  to  apply  the  rules  of  logic  and 
the  refined  reasoning  of  the  metaphysical  science  in  the  elucidation 
of  the  Scriptures.  The  system  of  scholastic  theology,  however, 
did  not  originate  in  this  century.  It  was  introduced  in  the  eighth 
century,  by  the  doctors  of  the  Hibernian  school  founded  by  Co- 
lumba,  known  as  the  Irish  divines.  It  was  then  called  the  "  Syllo- 
gismus  dehisionis^''''  from  its  sophistical  and  fallacious  character; 
obscuring  the  truth  and  bewildering  the  understanding,  rather  than 
leading  the  mind  through  a  clear  and  intelligible  process  of  analysis 
and  investigation.  Berengarius,  and  his  opponent  Lanfranc,  were 
the  most  distinguished  in  this  age  of  those  who  applied  this  philo- 
sophical mode  of  reasoning  to  their  biblical  researches.  Thus  was 
the  Christian  religion  reduced  to  a  science ;  and  in  succeeding  cen- 
turies, it  was  difficult  to  distinguish  the  true  light  of  revelation,  from 
those  false  meteors  whose  rays  were  calculated  to  bewilder  and  to 
confound.  Christianity  became  involved  in  the  mysteries  of  a  sub- 
tle and  unmeaning  jargon  of  terms  and  definitions. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  history  of  the  Paulicians  has  been  traced  from  their  revival 
in  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century  by  Constantine,  of  Samosata, 
in  Syria,  to  the  commencement  of  this.  Two  colonies  of  them 
were  transplanted  from  Asia  to  Europe.  One,  in  the  middle  of  the 
eighth  century,  by  the  emperor  Constantine  Copronymus;  another, 
in  the  year  970,  by  John  Zimisces.  In  the  last  century,  they  had 
extended  their  settlements  into  the  provinces  of  Macedonia  and  of 
Epirus.  They  were  united  with  the  Bulgarians  in  the  wars  which 
were  carried  on  against  them  by  Zimisces,  apd  by  his  successor 
Basilius  II.,  or  from  the  year  970  to  1019;  when  they  were  finally 
conquered  and  united  to  the  dominions  of  the  empire.  That  they 
must  have  commenced  their  voluntary  migrations  to  the  Western 
states  of  Europe  between  those  two  periods  is  rendered  certain, 
from  the  fact  recorded  in  history,  that  in  the  year  1007,  they  com- 
posed a  religious  assembly  in  Orleans  (France,)  and  among  them 
were  "  twelve  canons  of  the  cathedral  of  Orleans,  men  eminently 
distinguished  by  their  piety  and  learning;  and  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  citizens  who  were  far  from  being  of  the  meanest  condition." 
In  that  year  thirteen  of  them  were  committed  to  the  flames  by  the 
papal  authority.^  "  Their  enemies,"  says  Mosheim,  "  acknowledged 
the  sincerity  of  their  piety ;  but  they  were  blackened  by  accusa- 
tions which  were  evidently  false.  The  opinions  for  which  they 
were  punished  differ  widely  from  the  Manichaean  system."     Tiiis 

'Thej  were  condemned  by  a  council  assembled  in  Orleans  by  Robert ;  and  there- 
fore, it  might  appear  that  their  punishment  was  inflicted  by  the  civil  authorities. 
But  the  persecution  was  by  the  instigation  of  a  popish  priest ;  and  Robert  was  the 
servile  instrument  of  the  pope. 


1 1  th  century.]  the  church  of  christ,  1 65 

sentence  of  exculpation  comes  too,  from  a  writer  who  embraced 
every  opportunity  of  casting  reproach  and  obloquy  upon  this  sect. 

As  we  are  principally  interested  in  the  history  of  those  branches 
which  removed  to  Germany,  France  and  Italy,  I  shall  but  briefly 
refer  here  to  the  great  body  which  continued  to  reside  under  the 
dominion  of  the  Greek  emperors. 

In  the  reign  of  Michael  IV.,  surnamed  the  Paphlagonian,  or  in 
the  year  1040,  they  were  engaged  in  the  war  between  the  Nor- 
mans and  the  Greeks.  The  author  who  mentions  them,  speaks  of 
their  doctrines  as  "  a  most  wicked  error;"  but  "  he  was  so  ignorant 
of  their  doctrine,"  says  Gibbon,  "  that  he  makes  them  a  kind  of 
Labellians  or  Patripassians."  In  the  reign  of  Alexis  I.,  surnamed 
Comnenus,  two  thousand  five  hundred  of  them  deserted  the  Greek 
army  and  returned  to  Philippopolis,  on  the  river  Hsebrus,  in  Thrace. 
Alexis  undertook  an  apostolic  mission  among  them,  and  labored  by 
reason  and  argument  to  convert  them  to  the  Greek  faith.  Those 
who  yielded  to  the  persuasive  eloquence  of  the  emperor,  were  re- 
warded by  distinctions  and  wealth.  These  were  few.  The  obsti- 
nate and  the  contumacious  were  pursued  with  the  sword,  and  their 
city  was  wrested  from  them.  This  was  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth 
century.  "  In  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  their  pope 
or  primate,"  says  Gibbon,  "  resided  on  the  confines  of  Bulgaria, 
Croatia  and  Dalmatia,  and  governed  by  liis  vicars."  Tiiis  was  a 
manifest  corruption  of  their  original  institutions.  In  the  sixteenth 
century,  a  remnant  of  that  sect  resided  in  the  valleys  of  mount 
Haemus ;  and  they  have  been  traced  to  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century,  in  ignoi^ance  and  poverty ;  degraded  by  the  idolatrous  wor- 
ship of  the  cross,  and  the  practice  of  bloody  sacrifice ;  having  lost 
all  knowledge  of  their  origin  and  of  the  religion  of  their  ances- 
tors.i 

It  w^ould  be  a  fruitless  labor  to  attempt  to  pursue  the  first  migra- 
tions of  the  Paulicans  to  the  West;  and  unsatisfactory  to  compare 
the  conjectures  of  the  writers  who  have  endeavored  to  determine 
the  periods  of  those  migrations,  and  the  progress  of  their  discon- 
nected and  desultory  settlement.  It  is  certain,  that  in  the  early  part 
of  the  eleventh  century,  they  were  numerous  in  France.  In  the 
middle  of  the  same  century,  they  were  widely  scattered  over  Ger- 
many ;  and  had  settled  in  Lombardy,  Insubria,  and  on  the  tributaries 
of  the  river  Po ;  and  were  therefore  at  this  early  period  at  the  foot 
of  the  Alpine  mountains,  or  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont. 

Having  been  confounded  with  the  Bulgarians,  in  their  wars 
against  the  Greek  emperors,  they  were  distinguished  in  France, 
first  as  Bulgarians  or  Bulgarii,  (and  by  corruption  Boulgres,  or  Bou- 
gres,)  then  as  Publicans,  which  was  evidently  a  corrupt  pronuncia- 
tion of  the  word  Paulicians;  and  in  the  following  or  twelfth  cen- 

'Gibbon's  Roman  Empire, 


166  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 1th  ceiitury, 

tury  they  were  called  Albigenses.  At  this  latter  period,  they  were 
numerous  in  the  Southern  provinces  of  France.  Languedoc,  Pro- 
vence, Dauphine  and  Savoy,  constituted  that  portion  of  France 
which  was  known  as  Narbonne  Gaul,  or  Albigesium.  Hence  the 
term  Albigenses,  first  applied  to  the  Paulicians  in  those  provinces, 
w^hen  the  persecution  against  them  by  pope  Alexander  III.,  com- 
menced ;  but  was  afterwards  attached  to  all  dissenters  from  the 
church  of  Rome  indiscriminately. 

The  Paulicians  who  settled  in  Italy  were  called  Paterini^  and 
Cathari  or  Gazari.  This  title  is  supposed  to  have  been  given  to 
lliem  from  a  part  of  the  city  of  Milan,  called  Pataria,  (still  desig- 
nated as  the  Contrada  de  Patarri,)  in  which  they  were  accustomed 
to  assemble.  This  name  was  given  also  to  the  priests  in  the  city 
of  Milan,  who  adhered  to  their  wives  (under  the  decree  of  Gregory 
VII.,  which  dissolved  the  matrimonial  bonds  of  the  clergy,)  and 
Avithdrew  from  their  communion  with  the  Romish  church.  Pata- 
rini  and  Albigenses,  were  alike  attached  to  all  persons  charged  with 
maintaining  heretical  opinions. 

It  is  proper  here  to  remark,  what  must  be  obvious,  however,  to 
all  who  are  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  popish  writers  of 
every  age,  that  the  titles  or  epithets  by  which  they  have  distin- 
guished the  religious  sects,  who  have  dissented  from  the  church  of 
Rome,  are  seldom  indicative  of  their  true  principles.  The  reproach- 
ful name  of  Manichaean,  has  been  attached  by  those  writers,  and 
indeed  by  all  papists,  to  whatever  denomination  of  Christians,  dif- 
fering from  them  in  doctrine,  and  abjuring  the  authority  of  the  pope, 
has  appeared  since  the  days  of  Manes.  It  was  thus  applied  to  the 
Albigenses,  to  the  Waldenses,  to  the  Picards,  &c. ;  and  when  these 
latter  names  themselves  were  made  odious  to  papacy,  they  were 
used  to  reflect  opprobrium  on  subsequent  reformers.  We  are  in- 
formed by  Milner,  in  the  3d  vol.  of  his  "  History  of  the  Christian 
Church,"  that  "  although  it  was  usual  to  stigmatize  new  sects  with 
the  odious  name  of  Manichees,  there  are  no  evidences  of  any  real 
remains  of  that  ancient  sect  in  the  twelfth  century." 

The  history  of  the  Paulicians  has  been  thus  brought  up  to  the 
period,  in  the  eleventh  century,  of  their  dispersion  through  the  dif- 
ferent states  of  Europe.  There  was  scarcely  a  province  in  which 
some  traces  of  these  sectaries  could  not  have  been  found.  They 
carried  on  a  commercial  intercourse  by  the  Danube  and  its  tributa- 
ries, with  Hungary  and  Bavaria.  Through  Lombardy  they  reached 
Switzerland  and  France.  They  spread  their  settlements  not  only 
in  Bulgaria  ;  but  they  were  found  in  Sclavonia,  Sicily,  Liguria,  and 
eventually  passed  over  to  the  British  isles.  Their  migration  into 
Europe  seems  to  have  marked  the  commencement  of  a  new  era  in 
the  Christian  Church — to  have  given  an  irresistible  impulse  to  the 
advance  of  the  reformation.  From  that  period  the  history  of  the 
Church  acquired  renewed  interest.   Can  we  dare  to  conjecture  that 


12th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  167 

the  Paulicians  of  tlie  twelfth  century  were  the  Novatians  of  the 
third?  There  is  undoubtedly  a  degree  of  probability  involved  iu 
the  supposition ;  and  the  believer  in  the  faithfulness  of  tiie  great 
Head  of  the  Church,  that,  according  to  his  promise,  He  would  be 
with  his  disciples  alway  even  unto  the  end  of  the  world,  will  be 
warranted  in  the  supposition.  What  a  glorious  exhibition  of  God's 
truth !  We  have  his  declaration,  that  he  will  never  leave  himself 
without  a  witness.  The  force  of  error  and  a  corrupt  hierarchy, 
drove  out  of  Europe  the  followers  of  Novatian  in  the  third  century. 
They  seek  an  asylum  from  the  persecution  of  the  Roman  church 
in  the  provinces  of  Asia  Minor.  History  has  there  traced  them 
with  flourishing  churches,  covering  all  the  provinces  of  tlie  East ; 
extending  beyond  the  Volga,  and  probably  to  the  base  of  the  Ura- 
lian  mountains.  Before  they  disappear  from  its  pages  over  the  same 
provinces,  a  numerous  sect  of  dissenters  are  found  •,  with  a  new 
name,  but  like  their  predecessors,  irreconcilably  opposed  to  the 
rites,  doctrines  and  government  of  the  Romish  church.  About  nine 
hundred  years  after  Novatian  establislied  his  church  in  Rome,  the 
Paulicians  are  found  in  every  province  of  Europe,  having  like  the 
Novatians  lost  their  name,  but  propagating  doctrines  as  odious  to 
the  Roman  hierarchy.  Had  they  in  the  long  duration  of  time  im- 
bibed some  false  doctrines }  Had  their  light  become  dim  ?  That 
may  be  true.  But  how  much  more  of  the  truth  did  they  still  pre- 
serve than  idolatrous  Rome ! 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

The  army  of  monks  and  vagrants  w'ho  invaded  Palestine,  under 
the  banners  of  Peter  the  Hermit,  was  routed  by  the  sullan  Soly- 
man,  in  the  plain  of  Nicea,  and  the  miserable  remnant  returned  like 
scattered  herds  to  Europe.  Godfrey,  of  Bouillon,  retook  the  city 
of  Jerusalem  from  the  Turks,  and  was  proclaimed  king;  but  the 
pope  by  his  legate,  claimed  the  right  of  sovereignty  over  all  the  ter- 
ritories acquired  by  the  Christian  forces.  In  the  year  1146,  a 
second  crusade  under  the  command  of  Hugh,  brother  of  Philip  of 
France,  was  undertaken  ;  but  with  no  better  success  than  that  which 
attended  the  expedition  of  Peter.  In  the  mean  time,  the  garrison 
of  Jerusalem  became  so  much  reduced  in  numbers,  that  the  monks 
were  compelled  to  take  up  arms  for  its  defense.  This  gave  rise  to 
the  Orders  of  the  Knights,  Templars  and  Hospitallars.  The  Ger- 
man pilgrims  soon  after  instituted  another  Order  which  was  known 
as  the  Teutonic.  A  third  crusade  shared  the  fate  of  those  which 
preceded  it.     Saladin,  the  sultan  of  Egypt,  wrested  the  holy  city 


168  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [12th  century. 

from  the  Christians.  Richard  I.,  of  England,  and  Philip  Augustus, 
of  France,  comnnanded  in  person  the  forces  of  their  respective  do- 
minions. The  former  obtained  a  victory  over  Saladin  at  Ascalon; 
but  the  partial  successes  which  accompanied  this  third  enterprise 
resulted  in  no  permanent  advantage  to  the  invaders.  Such  is  the 
brief  history  of  this  fanatical  war;  undertaken  in  a  spirit  of  religi- 
ous enthusiasm,  and  urged  on  by  the  Roman  pontiffs  with  the  ob- 
ject of  extending  their  spiritual  jurisdiction.  By  their  inordinate 
ambition  and  wicked  thirst  for  wealth  and  nower,  immense  numbers 
of  miserably  deluded  enthusiasts  were  destroyed ;  the  wealth  of 
Europe  was  transported  into  Asia,  and  the  resources  of  the  nations 
of  Europe  were  diminished. 

The  project  of  rescuing  the  holy  land  from  the  hands  of  the  in- 
fidels, originated  at  the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  with  pope  Syl- 
vester II.  He  published  an  address  to  all  Christendom,  in  the  form 
of  an  appeal  by  the  church  of  Jerusalem  to  the  worshippers  of  the 
cross,  to  unite  for  the  relief  of  the  suffering  Christians  in  Palestine, 
who  were  groaning  under  the  oppressive  yoke  of  the  Mussulmen. 
Successive  pontiffs  throughout  the  eleventh  century  had  cherished 
the  ambitious  scheme  of  adding  the  provinces  of  Asia  to  the  papal 
dominion.  Gregory  VII.  consummated  a  plan  of  conquest  commen- 
surate with  his  aspiring  and  comprehensive  genius ;  and  succeeded 
in  arraying  a  formidable  army,  which  he  would  have  commanded 
in  person,  but  the  humiliation  of  the  potentates  of  Europe  was 
dearer  to  him  than  the  subjection  of  a  few  distant  provinces;  and  in 
his  efforts  to  accomplish  this,  his  tender  compassion  for  the  op- 
pressed Christians  in  Palestine  subsided  and  was  forgotten. 

One  of  the  consequences  of  these  holy  wars,  in  a  political  point 
of  view,  was  the  concentration  of  wealth,  particularly  of  landed 
estate,  in  the  hands  of  a  few.  The  princes  and  noblemen  who  em- 
barked in  these  expeditions  were  compelled  to  mortgage  their  pos- 
sessions to  obtain  the  means  of  defraying  their  expenses ;  and  in 
most  instances,  they  became  absolutely  vested  in  the  mortgagees. 
The  destruction  of  numerous  branches  of  a  family  united  their  sev- 
eral portions  into  one.  And  thus,  there  was  raised  up  a  more  pow- 
erful aristocracy.  The  kings,  by  the  same  process,  acquired  the 
proprietary  right  to  duchies  and  manors  which  had  been  vested 
either  in  the  princes  of  the  royal  blood,  or  in  their  ^vealthy  sub- 
jects. 

In  these  lucrative  speculations  the  clergy  were  not  inactive  spec- 
tators. Indeed  it  was  their  lot  to  reap  the  richest  portion  of  the 
harvest.  The  priests  and  the  monks  acquired  immense  wealth  as 
residuary  legatees.  Bequests  were  made  to  them  of  entire  estates, 
after  the  deduction  of  the  incumbrances  upon  them,  by  pious  pil- 
grims enlisted  in  the  cause  of  the  cross.  Rich  donations  were 
made  to  obtain  the  prayers  of  the  Church.  Princes,  who  by  vio- 
lence or  fraud,  had  appropriated  to  themselves  the  property  of  any  of 


1 2th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  169 

the  ecclesiastical  orders,  made  ample  restitution ;  and  even  injuries 
alledjjed  to  have  been  done  by  their  remote  ancestors  were  liberal- 
ly compensated  for,  by  rich  presents.  The  crusaders  who  escaped 
the  sword  of  the  Saracens,  brought  back  with  them  the  precious 
relics  of  saints  and  martyrs,  fortunately  discovered  in  the  Holy 
Land ;  and  these  were  deposited  in  the  churches  and  monasteries, 
to  be  exhibited  to  the  pious  and  the  devout.  "  Among  them  was 
the  dish  in  which  the  pascal  lamb  was  served  up  to  Christ  and  his 
disciples  at  the  Last  Supper !"  All  these  were  sources  of  wealth 
to  the  clergy. 

We  should  not  however,  omit  another  evil  consequence,  which 
opened  wider  the  channels  of  corruption  and  vice  in  the  Church, 
apart  from  this  increase  of  the  wealth  of  the  clergy,  which  minis- 
tered to  their  sensual  indulgences ;  the  removal  of  the  restraints 
upon  the  lower  orders,  by  the  bishops  and  abbots  accompanying 
the  expeditions.  Many  of  those  ghostly  fathers,  laying  aside  the 
helmet  of  salvation  and  the  sword  of  the  spirit,  buckled  on  the  ar- 
mor of  a  temporal  warfare ;  and  as  knights  errant,  went  into  distant 
lands  in  search  of  adventures.  In  the  mean  time,  the  indolent 
priests  and  monks,  "  abandoned  themselves  to  all  sorts  of  licen- 
tiousness, committing  the  most  flagitious  and  extravagant  excesses, 
without  reluctance  or  remorse."  From  this  and  other  concurrent 
causes,  the  vices  of  the  clergy  of  this  age,  appear  to  have  reached 
the  summit  of  their  enormity.  They  were  devoted  to  the  gratifi- 
cation of  every  unhallowed  lust.  The  institution  of  the  monastic 
order  of  Fonterrault,  for  both  sexes  under  the  same  roof,  and  in 
Avhich  the  monks  and  nuns  were  permitted  to  associate,  as  forming 
one  community,  is  an  evidence  of  the  general  corruption  of  morals 
which  prevailed.  "  The  unanimous  voice  of  the  historians  of  this 
age,  as  well  as  the  laws  and  decrees  of  synods  and  councils,  de- 
clare loudly  the  gross  ignorance,  the  odious  frauds,  and  the  flagi- 
tious crimes  that  reigned  among  the  different  ranks  and  orders  of 
the  clergy."  ^  The  Benedictine  order,  founded  in  the  sixth  cen- 
tury, and  of  which  the  monastery  of  Fonterrault  was  a  branch, 
had  long  before  this  century,  become  notorious  for  the  looseness  of 
its  discipline,  and  was  at  this  time,  the  receptacle  of  debauchery 
and  vice. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  eleventh  century,  notwithstanding  this 
profligacy  of  character  in  the  clergy,  and  the  daring  assumptions 
of  the  pontiffs  which  excited  an  angry  warfare  between  the  empire 
and  the  priesthood,  the  authority  of  the  papal  throne  acquired  by 
very  sensible  degrees,  an  ascendency  over  the  kingdoms  of  Europe. 
Although  they  had  received  the  imposing  title  of  "  Masters  of  the 
world,"  they  were  notwithstanding,  restrained  by  the  emperors  in 
the  full  exercise  of  the  power  which  that  title  guarantied.  During 
the  pontificate  of  Innocent  III.,  or  from  the  year  1198  to  the  year 

'Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  12th  century. 


170  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST,  [12th  cetitury. 

1216,  the  papal  power  may  be  said  to  have  arrived  at  its  highest 
eminence,  and  to  have  been  placed  on  a  firm  and  settled  basis.  Be- 
fore the  expiration  of"  the  thirteenth  century,  their  claims  were 
questioned  both  by  the  civil  and  the  ecclesiastical  authorities.  In 
the  fourteenth  century,  their  power  was  diminished  by  their  resi- 
dence in  Avignon ;  and  in  the  fifteenth  century,  the  councils  of  Con- 
stance and  of  Basil,  declared  it  to  be  inferior  to  that  of  the  ecu- 
menical councils. 

Pascal  II.  was  elevated  to  the  Roman  see  in  the  last  year  of  tlie 
preceding  century.  But  his  election  was  strenuously  opposed  by 
the  imperial  party.  In  consequence  of  this  opposition,  contentions 
and  discord  prevailed  in  the  city.  Three  successive  rivals  were 
chosen,  but  each  in  turn  was  overpowered  by  the  strength  of  the 
papal  influence,  which  was  now  in  the  ascendant.  The  popes  had 
heretofore  submitted,  but  with  manifest  reluctance,  to  the  control- 
ling power  of  the  emperors.  They  had  for  ages  past,  received 
their  appointments  from  a  temporal  throne.  And,  with  a  few  ex- 
ceptions, the  successors  in  St.  Peter's  chair,  derived  their  right  to 
the  seat  from  the  ruling  princes.  The  superstition  of  the  times, 
and  the  extension  of  the  temporal  prerogatives  of  the  popes,  ena- 
bled them  to  oppose  with  success,  this  interference  of  the  emper- 
ors ;  and  it  will  be  seen  that  at  the  close  of  this  century,  they  be- 
came not  only  independent  of  that  foreign  control,  but  assumed  to 
themselves  the  supremacy  over  temporal,  as  well  as,  spiritual  af- 
fairs. 

After  the  death  of  Pascal,  a  Benedictine  monk  was  raised  to  the 
throne;  who  is  known  as  Gelasius  II.  The  emperor  Henry  V., 
appointed  an  archbishop  of  Spain  to  the  see,  who  assumed  the 
name  of  Gregory  VIII.  Gelasius  fearing  the  power  of  Henry, 
and  apprehensive  of  danger  in  Rome,  fled  to  France,  where  he 
soon  after  died.  The  cardinals  w^ho  accompanied  him,  elected  the 
arch-bishop  of  Vienna,  who  was  also  count  of  Burgundy,  to  the 
pontificate.  This  was  Calixtus  II.  He  was  a  near  relative  of  the 
emperor,  and  was  therefore  acceptable  to  him. 

In  the  year  1130  a  schism  occurred  in  the  Church.  The  elec- 
toral college  was  divided  in  the  choice  of  a  successor  to  Honorius 
II.  One  party  elected  a  cardinal  deacon  of  St.  Angelo,  who  as- 
sumed the  name  of  Innocent  II.,  the  other  a  Roman  ])rince,  or  An- 
acletus  II.  Innocent,  unable  to  retain  his  seat  from  the  weakness 
of  his  party,  retired  from  the  Vatican,  and  took  refuge  in  France. 
Anacletus  was  more  powerful  than  his  adversary  in  Italy;  and 
therefore  succeeded  in  dispossessing  him  of  the  occupancy  of  the 
seat.  The  most  bigoted  and  obstinate  contender  for  the  right  of 
apostolic  succession  cannot  determine  in  this  contest,  which  of  those 
claimants  should  be  properly  placed  in  the  direct  line,  to  the  entire 
exclusion  of  the  other.  It  is  true,  the  papists  inform  us,  that  the 
apostles  Peter  and  Paul  occupied  at  the  same  time,  co-ordinate  dio- 


12th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  171 

ceses  in  Rome,  one  being  bishop  of  Ihe  Jewish  and  the  other  of 
the"  Gentile  church.  Innocent  and  Anacletus  had  therefore,  a  whole- 
some and  safe  precedent  for  the  joint  occupancy  of  the  Roman  see. 
Physical  power,  however,  in  this  instance,  determined  the  question 
of  right ;  and  as  the  stronger  force  was  arrayed  in  the  city  to  sus- 
tain the  pretensions  of  the  latter,  he  quietly  reposed  in  his  seat  un- 
til his  death,  in  the  year  1138.  But  in  that  catalogue  of  apostolic 
successors  which  has  been  carefully  and  providentially  preserved, 
his  name  is  not  enrolled.  He  has  been  unceremoniously  placed  in 
the  black  list  of  anti-popes,  and  stands  proscribed  and  anathema- 
tized by  the  Romish  church,  as  a  schismatic  and  a  heretic. 

The  reign  of  Lucius  II.,  which  commenced  in  the  year  1144, 
was  short,  but  tumultuous.  Seditions  and  riots  prevailed  in  the  city; 
and  at  the  expiration  of  eleven  months  after  his  accession,  he  fell  a 
victim  to  the  disorder  and  riots  which  disturbed  the  public  tran- 
quillity. He  was  killed  by  a  mob  of  the  citizens.  His  successor, 
Eugenius  III.,  who  w^as  a  Cistertian  monk  when  elected,  enjoyed 
but  short  intervals  of  repose.  The  tumults  of  the  populace  were 
beyond  the  control  of  this  ghostly  father ;  and  his  authority  was 
not  only  disregarded,  but  set  at  defiance  and  resisted  by  the  multi- 
tude. A  precipitate  flight  from  the  city  rescued  him  from  the  fate 
of  his  predecessor.  During  the  greater  part  of  his  reign,  he  re- 
sided in  France.     He  died  in  the  year  1153. 

It  is  proper  to  mention  here,  what  will  be  more  particularly  re- 
ferred to  in  pursuing  "  the  progress  of  the  Reformation,"  that  the 
disorders  and  civil  commotions  which  prevailed  in  Rome  from  1 144 
to  1155,  were  occasioned  by  the  efforts  which  were  made  by  in- 
fluential citizens,  incited  and  sustained  by  Arnold  of  Brescia,  "  to 
divest  the  Church  of  its  worldly  possessions,  and  to  reduce  it  to 
its  primitive  simplicity."  The  history  of  this  period  clearly  points 
to  it,  as  a  remarkable  epoch  in  the  Christian  Church,  Although 
the  papal  power  was  still  advancing  onward,  to  that  consummation 
which  it  acquired  at  the  close  of  this  century,  a  renewed  impetus 
was  now  given  to  the  spirit  of  reformation.  The  Paulicians  had 
been  widely  dispersed  over  Europe  during  the  last  century.  They 
were  irreconcilable  enemies  to  popery;  and  were  bold  opposers  of 
its  usurpations  and  abuses  of  power.  Their  principles  must  neces- 
sarily have  been  imbibed  by  those,  who,  from  a  higher  degree  of 
enlightenment,  had  clearer  views  of  the  divine  truths  of  the  gos- 
pel. With  their  religious  tenets  drawn  from  the  Scriptures  of  the 
New  Testament,  they  also  imparted  an  undaunted  spirit  in  main- 
taining them.  In  the  early  part  of  this  century,  Peter  de  Bruis  was 
a  martyr  to  the  truth  ;  in  the  middle  of  the  century,  Arnold  of  Bres- 
cia was  crucified  and  burned  in  the  same  holy  cause ;  and  at  the 
close  of  it,  commenced  the  persecutions  against  the  Albigenses. — 
From  this  period  then,  we  enter  upon  new  and  interesting  scenes. 
A  succession  of  witnesses  appeared  to  testify,  and  to  seal  with  their 


172  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [12th  ccntury. 

blood,  the  profession  of  their  faith.  Nor  should  we  be  surprised 
that  the  standard  of  opposition  to  papal  supremacy  was  erected  at 
the  gates  of  the  Vatican.  In  Rome  the  corruptions  of  popery 
were  manifest  to  all.  The  vices  of  the  pontiffs  had  removed  from 
the  minds  of  the  people,  that  veneration  and  awe  for  the  clergy 
which  prevailed  every  where;  and  we  are  assured  by  writers  of 
the  age,  that  Roman  citizens  were  less  under  the  control  of  those 
superstitious  feelings,  which  sustained  the  pretensions  of  the  popes, 
than  those  who  resided  at  a  distance  from  the  capital.  We  shall 
now  return  to  the  history  of  the  succession. 

After  the  death  of  Adrian,  in  the  year  1159,  the  electoral  col- 
lege was  again  divided  into  two  contending  parties.  One  of  the 
factions  elected  the  bishop  of  Sienna,  or  Alexander  III. ;  the  other 
chose  a  cardinal  of  St.  Cecilia,  who  assumed  the  title  of  Victor 
IV.  To  determine  the  conflicting  claims  of  the  two  pontiffs,  a 
council  convened  in  the  following  year  at  Pavia.  Victor  was  de- 
clared the  rightful  successor;  and  Alexander  fled  to  France.  On 
the  death  of  Victor,  who  held  the  seat  until  1164,  a  cardinal  of  St. 
Calixtus  was  chosen,  through  the  influence  of  the  emperor  Fred- 
erick I.,  surnamed  Barbarossa;  and  was  known  as  Pascal  III.  In 
the  year  1167,  a  diet  of  princes  at  Wurtzbourg,  acknowledged  him 
as  the  legitimate  pontiff.  Soon  after  these  occurrences  however, 
Alexander,  who  had  remained  in  France  from  the  time  of  his  ex- 
pulsion from  Rome  by  Victor,  returned  to  Italy,  and  succeeded  in 
regaining  possession  of  the  Vatican.^  In  a  council  held  in  the  Lat- 
eran,2  he  excommunicated  Frederick;  published  the  anathemas  of 
the  Church  against  him ;  declared  the  imperial  throne  vacant ;  ab- 
solved the  allegiance  of  his  subjects,  and  called  upon  them  to  ab- 
jure his  authority.  The  emperor  marched  to  Rome  at  the  head  of 
a  strong  army,  and  the  presumptuous  Alexander  fled  to  Benevento. 

In  1168  Pascal  died,  and  the  cardinals  of  his  party  elected  the 
abbot  of  Strum,  or  Calixtus  III.  The  emperor  sustained  him.  Af- 
ter many  vicissitudes  of  fortune,  in  which  Frederick  was  alternate- 
ly victorious  or  defeated,  in  his  wars  against  the  provinces  which 
had  revolted  from  him,  he  made  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Alexander, 
in  the  year  1 174,  at  Venice.    Victor,  Pascal,  and  Calixtus  are  num- 

'The  Vatican  is  the  ancient  palace  of  the  popes.  It  stands  on  the  right  bank  of 
the  Tiber,  in  Rome;  and  on  a  hill  formerly  of  the  same  name.  The  name  is  de- 
rived from  Jupiter  Vaticanus,  to  whom  a  temple,  in  times  of  very  remote  antiquity, 
was  there  dedicated.  It  is  said,  that  the  first  building  erected  tiiere  as  a  residence, 
was  by  Symmachus,  in  the  beginning  of  the  si.xth  ccntury.  It  now  contains,  from 
numerous  additions  by  successive  popes,  4422  rooms.  The  length  of  the  Museum 
of  Statues  is  said  to  be  one  mile. 

'The  Lateraii,  was  a  palace  given  by  Constantine  to  the  bishops  (afterward  popes) 
of  Rome.  They  continued  to  reside  in  it  until  tiieir  removal  to  Avignon,  in  the 
fourteenth  century.  An  ancient  family  called  the  Latcrani,  had  a  ])alare  on  tiiat 
site  which  was  seized  by  Nero.  Hence  the  name.  It  has  been  for  centuries  past,  a 
church  dedicated  to  St.  John  Lateran.  It  is  the  Metropolitan  church  of  the  ueo  of 
Rome.     The  papal  councils  are  held  in  it. 


12th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  173 

bered  with  the  anti-popes ;  and  Alexander,  who  was  a  greater  part 
of  the  time  after  his  election,  banished  iVoin  Rome  by  his  adversa- 
ries, has  been  placed  by  the  papal  chroniclers  in  the  line  of  apos- 
tolic succession.  Lucius  III.,  who  was  the  bishop  of  Ostia,  was 
elected  by  the  cardinals  alone,  in  conformity  with  a  law  establish- 
ed by  Alexander,  in  a  council  of  the  Lateran,  in  tlio  year  1 178,  and 
which  shall  be  mentioned  more  particularly  in  its  proper  j)lace. 
He  succeeded  Alexander,  who  died  in  possession  of  the  chair  in 
1181.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  new  mode  of  election,  by 
which  not  only  the  people,  but  the  Roman  clergy  were  deprived  of 
their  right  of  suffrage  in  the  election  of  the  pontifts,  that  Lucius 
was  twice  driven  out  of  the  city  by  the  ])Oj)ulace.  He  died  in  ban- 
ishment at  Verona,  three  years  after  his  elevation  to  the  pontificate. 
From  Alexander  III.  to  Innocent  III.,  or  from  the  year  1181  to 
1 1 98,  a  period  of  seventeen  years,  five  popes  occupied  the  papal 
throne.  Innocent  III.,  whose  previous  name  and  title,  were  Loth- 
arius,  count  of  Segni,  and  Cardinal  Deacon,  ascended  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter  in  the  year  1198.  The  events  of  his  pontificate  belong 
to  the  history  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

Pascal  II.  renewed  the  controversy  on  the  subject  of  Investitures 
which  had  been  so  warmly  maintained  in  the  last  century,  between 
Gregory  VII.  and  Henry  IV.  That  prince  still  occupied  the  impe- 
rial throne.  To  paralyze  his  energies,  Pascal  incited  his  son  to 
rebel  against  him ;  dissolved  the  allegiance  which  he  owed  as  a 
subject,  and  promoted  the  cause  of  this  unnatural  traitor  by  every 
means  in  his  power.  Henry  IV.  died  of  a  broken  heart,  in  the 
year  1106.  But  Henry  V.,  who  had  thus  acquired  the  throne,  re- 
sisted the  demands  of  Pascal  with  that  determined  obstinacy  which 
had  marked  the  measures  of  his  father,  in  his  contests  with  Gre- 
gory. He  marched  with  an  army  into  Italy.  The  affrighted  pon- 
tiff proposed  to  him,  that  if  he  would  relinquish  the  right  of  invest- 
ing with  the  ring' and  crosier,  the  bishops  and  abbots  should  resign 
to  him  all  the  grants  they  had  received  from  Charlemagne,  of  rights 
which  properly  appertained  to  the  sovereignty  of  the  empire,  "  such 
as  raising  tribute,  coining  money,  holding  lands  independent  of  the 
emperor,"  &c.  Such  were  the  terms  of  pacification  between  the 
parties.  But  from  the  remonstrances  of  the  bishops,  Pascal  wav- 
ered in  the  fulfillment  of  the  contract;  and  by  the  order  of  Henry 
was  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  Titerbo.  By  another  compromise 
the  right  of  investing  with  the  ring  and  crosier  was  again  conceded 
to  the  emperor,  and  he  was  crowned  agreeably  to  the  ancient  cus- 
tom, by  the  humbled  pontiff. 

The  conduct  of  Pascal  was  subjected  to  the  severest  animadver- 
sions. The  sanctity  and  infallibility  of  his  character  was  forgot- 
ten amid  the  tumults  which  arose  in  the  city.  The  most  unmeas- 
ured abuses  were  bestowed  upon  his  acts;  and  he  was  openly 
charged  with  pusillanimity  and  treachery  to  the  Church.    To  quiet 


174  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [12th  ccnlury. 

the  public  clamor.^  and  appease  the  general  indignation,  a  council 
was  convened  in  the  Lateran  in  the  year  1112.  With  an  humble  ac- 
knowledgment of  his  error,  he  passively  submitted  a  decision  of  his 
controversy  with  Henry,  to  its  judgment.  "  The  council  condemn- 
ed his  measures ;  declared  them  scandalous ;  and  annulled  all  his 
proceedings."  The  consequences  which  resulted  from  the  ener- 
getic conduct  and  language  of  this  council  were  peculiarly  embar- 
rassing to  the  emperor.  He  was  excommunicated,  and  declared  a 
heretic.  The  German  princes  revolted  •,  and  dangers  threatened 
him  on  every  side.  To  subdue  the  faithless  pontiff,  he  raised  an 
army,  and  entered  the  city  of  Rome.  His  enemy  fled  to  Bene- 
vento.  But  whilst  he  was  engaged  in  organizing  a  force  to  repel 
the  invading  army  of  the  empire,  death  closed  his  career. 

The  government  of  the  Church  had  been  placed  for  more  than 
fifty  years  in  the  hands  of  monies;  whose  avarice,  ambition,  and 
obstinacy  had  urged  them  to  most  unjust  and  unreasonable  exac- 
tions; and  whose  haughty  and  uncompromising  temper,  defeated 
every  measure  which  might  have  led  to  a  reconciliation  between  the 
parties  on  fair  and  equitable  terms.  The  elevation  of  the  arch- 
bishop of  Vienna,  Calixtus  II.,  gave  a  new  aspect  to  the  events 
which  had  agitated  the  atlairs  of  the  empire  and  the  Church.  Al- 
though he  maintained  his  claims  with  firmness ;  and  called  to  his 
aid  the  military  forces  of  ihe  ecclesiastical  state;  he  succeeded  in 
effecting  a  compromise  which  terminated  the  dispute  on  the  subject 
of  investitures.  At  a  general  diet  at  Worms  in  1122,  it  was  agreed 
"That  bishops  and  abbots  shall  be  elected  by  monks  and  canons, 
in  the  presence  of  the  emperor  or  his  ambassadors,  that  all  difficul- 
ties which  may  arise  in  an  election  shall  be  determined  by  the  au- 
thority of  the  emperor,  that  the  bishop  and  abbot  elect  shall  take 
an  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  emperor,  and  receive  from  him  the  re- 
galia, by  the  ceremony  of  the  sceptre,  and  not  of  the  ring  and  cro- 
sier; as  more  appropriate  in  the  investiture  of  temporal  rights." 

This  was  an  important  change  in  the  form  of  electing  and  instal- 
ling bishops  and  abbots  into  their  respective  benefices.  In  the  con- 
cordat, which  was  afterwards  ratified  and  confirmed  by  an  ecumeni- 
cal council,  (first  of  Lateran,)  there  was  manifestly  a  mutual  con- 
cession by  both  parties ;  but  the  issue  was  permanently  to  the  ad- 
vantage of  the  Church.  The  pontiffs  thereafter  yielded  the  ground 
which  had  been  audaciously  assumed  by  Urban  II.,  in  the  last  cen- 
tury, at  the  council  of  Clermont,  "  That  no  bishop  or  priest  shall 
promise  upon  oath  liege  obedience  to  any  king  or  any  layman." 
The  emperors  on  their  part,  conceded  an  ancient  prerogative  which 
enabled  them  to  restrain  the  irregular  and  hasty  consecration  of  the 
bishops.  But  peace  was  restored,  and  therefore  that  measure  re- 
ceived the  general  approbation  of  the  people  and  the  clergy.  The 
prominent  feature  in  this  new  mode  of  electing  bisho()s  and  abbots 
is,  the  exclusion  of  the  laity  and  the  great  body  of  tlie  clergy. 


12th  century.]  the  church  op  christ.  173 

This  had  been  from  the  earliest  period  tlie  form  of  an  election,  both 
of  these  classes  giving  their  sulfrages.  Fiom  the  time  of  this  con- 
cordat this  election  has  been  reposed  in  the  chapters,  or  the  body 
of  canons  and  prebendaries;  the  head  of  whom  is  the  dean.  It 
should  be  observed,  however,  that  this  is  not  an  unilbrm  rule  in  all 
churches  under  the  government  of  episcopacy.  In  many  papal 
States,  the  king  and  clergy  nominate ;  and  their  appointment  is  not 
valid  until  it  is  confirmed  by  the  pope.  In  England,  the  power  is 
vested  in  the  king,  it  may  be  said,  arbitrarily ;  as  his  recommenda- 
tion of  a  suitable  person  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  diocese,  is  really 
an  order  directed  to  the  dean  and  chapter  to  elect  the  individual 
proposed.  In  Prussia,  Protestant  bishops  and  sometimes  arch- 
bishops, are  directly  appointed  by  the  king. 

An  important  change  in  the  mode  of  electing  the  pontiffs  was  also 
made  in  this  century.  The  ecumenical  councd  (third  of  Lateran,) 
in  the  year  1178,  decreed  that  the  right  of  election  shall  be  vested 
in  the  cardinals  alone;  and  that  two-thirds  of  the  votes  of  this  elec- 
toral college  shall  be  required  to  determine  a  choice.  This  was 
effected  during  the  pontificate  of  Alexander  III.,  and  has  continued 
with  some  subsequent  modification,  as  in  the  thirteenth  century  by 
Gregory  X.,  to  govern  in  all  elections  to  fill  the  vacancies  which 
have  occurred,  excepting  always,  when  it  has  been  superseded  and 
overruled  by  fraud  or  violence. 

The  lucrative  traffic  in  indulgences,  excited  the  avidity  of  all  or- 
ders of  the  clergy ;  and  the  pontiff  himself  engaged  in  this  com- 
mercial transaction.  The  head  was  not  less  corrupt  than  the  mem- 
bers. This  had  become,  even  at  this  time,  a  source  of  unbounded 
wealth  to  the  bishops.  The  monks  were  not  permitted  to  dispose 
of  these  indulgences;  and  their  means  of  acquiring  wealth  consist- 
ed in  the  exhibitions  of  the  bones  of  departed  saints.  By  such  ar- 
tifices the  poor  deluded  papists  were  cheated  and  robbed  of  the 
profits  of  their  honest  industry;  and  the  fruits  of  these  scandalous 
impostui-es  were  appropriated  to  the  gratification  of  sensual  lusts. 
The  riches  thus  acquired  were  squandered  to  support  the  extrava- 
gance of  the  clergy,  and  to  minister  to  their  licentious  pleasures. 
The  pontiffs,  beholding  with  an  avaricious  eye  the  increasing  wealth 
of  the  bishops  from  the  sale  of  indulgences,  in  the  plenitude  of  their 
power,  wrested  from  them  this  invaluable  privilege ;  and  monopo- 
lized for  themselves  the  profits  of  the  trade.  They  not  only  re- 
mitted all  penalties  of  a  temporal  nature;  but  granted  to  the  pur- 
chaser a  full  pardon  in  a  future  state,  for  all  the  sins  which  may 
have  been  committed  in  this  life.  This  power  was  derived  from 
the  commission  given  to  the  apostles  by  Christ  "  to  bind  and  to 
loose,"  and  by  them  transferred  to  the  head  of  the  Church  as  the 
apostolic  successor.  In  the  exercise  of  this  power,  the  vicar  of 
Christ  may  draw  from  that  inexhaustil)le  treasure  of  merit,  which 
is  made  up  of  the  works  of  supererogation  of  the  saints,  and  assign 


176  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [12th  century. 

to  whom  he  pleases,  so  much  as  may  be  necessary  to  secure  their 
exemption  from  punishment  here,  and  their  eternal  salvation  here- 
after. The  saints,  having  performed  more  good  works  than  were 
necessary  for  their  own  salvation,  iiave  provided  a  fund  of  merit, 
from  which  the  Church  may  draw  supplies,  for  those  who  are  de- 
ticient  in  pious  deeds  of  their  own.  Indeed,  so  exhaustless  is  this 
treasure,  that,  no  matter  what  might  be  the  enormity  of  the  crime, 
or  the  numbers  of  the  penitent  purchasers,  the  means  of  their  re- 
demption are  always  attainable  from  this  source.  Such  was  the 
doctrine  of  supererogation ;  and  which  is  still  an  article  of  faith  in 
the  popish  church. 

The  profane  and  idolatrous  worship  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  of 
the  saints,  was  carried  in  this  century,  to  the  highest  degree  of  ex- 
travagance and  wickedness.  The  Church  of  Christ  had  not  only 
"  changed  the  glory  of  the  uncorruptible  God  into  an  image  made 
like  to  corruptible  man;  but  it  also  changed  the  truth  of  God  into  a 
lie,  by  worshipping  and  serving  the  creature  more  than  the  crea- 
tor." The  worship  of  saints  and  images  constitutes  the  chief  ser- 
vice in  the  papal  church.  It  has  forsaken  the  pure  religion  of  the 
Bible  for  the  mythology  of  the  pagans.  It  teaches  that  angels  are 
to  be  worshipped.^  Litanies  and  prayers  are  composed  for  this 
purpose.  It  directs  its  votaries;  "to  pray  to  them  as  their  inter- 
cessors ;  to  make  confessions  to  them  ;  to  offer  incense,  and  make 
vows  to  them ;  to  venerate  their  images  and  relics ;"  that  "  by  their 
help  they  may  obtain  benefits  from  God."  It  teaches,  that  "  what- 
ever gifts  are  bestowed  upon  us  by  Christ,  we  receive  them  by  the 
mediation  of  Mary  ;"  that  "  she  is  our  sacred  guide,  advocate  and 
champion."  She  is  called  "  The  Mother  of  grace,  the  Fountain  of 
Mercy."  That  church  also  teaches,  that  "  by  the  veneration  of  re- 
lics we  obtain  the  help  of  the  saints  whom  those  relics  relate  to," 
&c.,  and  that,  prayers  should  be  offered  to  the  cross,  "  for  increase 
of  grace  and  for  the  remission  of  sins."  This  is  the  Church  whose 
history  we  have  traced  ;  from  the  period,  when  the  government, 
the  doctrines,  and  the  spiritual  religion  of  the  apostolic  church,  of 
which  Jesus  Christ  himself  was  the  chief  corner-stone,  became  viti- 
ated and  corrupted  by  an  ambitious  hierarchy,  and  by  the  rites, 
ceremonies  and  doctrines,  of  a  system  of  pagan  worship.  This  is 
the  Church  whose  history  we  have  traced,  under  the  title  of  the 
Church  of  Christ.  A  Church  that  has  not  now,  and  never  had,  a 
vestige  of  the  worship  of  the  true  God ;  that  is  called  the  Church 
of  Clirist,  and  denies  him  to  be  the  only  mediator  between  God  and 
man.     The  earliest  traces  of  the  papal  church  can  be  no  where 

'The  terms  in  the  Romish  catechism  to  express  the  kind  of  worship  to  be  offered 
to  angels,  are  "  i't»ie»*ari,"  ^^  adorare,''''  "  roJerc."  Papists  have  drawn  a  distinction 
between  the  words  lairia  and  doulia.  The  former  is  the  worsiiip  tliey  give  to  God, 
the  lullcr,  that  to  tlie  saints,  tri  tlie  Scriptures  it  is  written,  edouleusate,  ye  worsliip- 
j)cJ  those  tliat  were  no  gods,  and  elatreusan,  they  served  tlie  creature.  The  distinc- 
tion, therefore,  is  not  agreeable  to  Scripture. 


12th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  177 

found  before  the  institution  of  diocesan  episcopacy.  That  was  the 
point  of  departure  from  the  true  Church  of  Christ.  That  was  the 
corner-stone  of  a  new  edifice,  which  throug:h  successive  centuries 
has  been  reared  to  its  present  imposing  magnitude. 

In  the  short  and  compendious  symbol,  which  has  very  erroneous- 
ly been  imputed  to  the  apostles,'  the  Christian  professes  to  believe 
in  "  the  communion  of  the  saints."  This  doctrine  was  advanced 
by  the  ecclesiastical  writers  of  the  Romish  church  in  the  primitive 
ages,  and  became  in  tiie  fourth  century,  an  article  of  faith.  This 
"communion  of  the  saints,"  in  a  Scriptural  sense,  implies  a  fellow- 
ship, whicli  spiritual  believers  have  among  themselves  as  members 
of  Christ's  Church,  and  with  Christ,  as  members  of  his  body.  In 
this  sense,  all  orthodox  Christians  must  assent  to  its  truth.  When 
believers  commune  at  the  table  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  they  receive 
the  bread  and  wine  as  symbols  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ. 
This  they  also  do  in  their  construction  of  the  Scripture  phraseol- 
ogy, "  this  is  my  body,  and  this  is  my  blood."  The  communicant 
who  partakes  of  the  sacrament  from  the  hands  of  a  Romish  priest, 
tacitly  assents  to  the  Romish  doctrine  of  transubstantiation.  So  the 
believer  who  professes  his  faith  in  the  "  communion  of  saints,"  as 
contained  in  a  creed  or  symbol  of  that  church,  equally  assents  to  it 
in  the  sense  which  that  church  attaches  to  it.  Agreeably  to  the 
doctrine  maintained  by  that  church,  this  communion  consists  "  in  a 
mutual  communication  between  the  saints  in  heaven  and  believers 
on  earth.  The  former  enjoying  the  pleasure  of  witnessing  the  piety 
of  the  latter,  and  of  contributing  to  their  salvation;  the  believers  on 
their  part,  aie  benefitted  by  the  saints  in  heaven,  who  by  their 
prayers  procure  for  them  help  and  grace  from  God,  by  which  the 
great  work  of  their  salvation  is  secured."  ^  This  is  the  papal  doc- 
trine of  "  the  apostles'  creed,"  which  was  drawn  up  by  the  fathers 
of  the  Romish  church,  when  the  worship  of  the  saints  in  heaven 
began  to  be  received  as  an  article  of  faith. 

But  as  the  church  of  Rome  has  founded  its  doctrines  and  its  rites 
on  the  authority  of  the  fathers,  and  not  on  the  word  of  God,  it  is 
difficult  to  determine  at  what  period  of  its  history,  the  worship  of 
saints  and  angels  may  be  supposed  to  have  become  an  article  of  its 
faith.  Its  origin  has  been  referred  to  the  fourth  century.  Irenaeus, 
in  the  second  century,  applied  the  term  advocate  to  the  Virgin  Mary ; 

'For  tlie  first  three  centuries,  tlie  doctrines  contained  in  this  summary  of  faitli,  were 
severally  maintained  by  the  fathers.  There  is  no  evidence  of  those  disjoinled  expres- 
sions of  opinion  having  been  condensed  into  a  Formula,  before  the  luurlh  cpnlury. 
In  that  century,  the  churches  of  Rome  and  those  in  the  East,  had  creeds  which  dif- 
fered essentially  one  from  the  other,  [n  some  of  them,  "Christ's  descent  into  hell," 
and  "  the  communion  of  the  saints,"  were  not  inserted.  The  most  reasonable  con- 
jecture is,  that  the  doctrines  contained  in  the  form  now  exislini]f,  were  successively 
advanced  in  different  a^es  of  the  Church,  and  sometime  in  the  fourth  century,  con- 
densed, as  we  now  have  it. 

^Catechiam  of  the  Romish  church. 

12 


178  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [t2th  centurj. 

but  this  stands  an  isolated  instance  of  the  first  three  centuries.  Cy- 
prian, who  flourished  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  complains 
of  the  corrupting  tendency  of  the  superstitious  veneration  for  the 
martyrs.  The  early  Christians  abjured  this  worship,  for  it  appears 
that  they  were  accused  of  it  by  the  pagans.  Pliny,  at  the  close  of 
the  first  century,  in  a  letter  to  Trajan,  writes  of  the  Christians  as 
"  meeting  together  before  day,  to  sing  a  hymn  to  Christ  as  God." 
Epiphanius,  in  the  fourth  century,  condemns  the  worship  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  and  concedes  a  veneration  to  her  memory.  Augus- 
tine, in  the  fifth  century,  says  "  Let  not  our  religion  consist  in  the 
worship  of  dead  men ;  for  if  they  were  pious  when  alive,  they 
would  not  desire  such  honor."  The  same  father,  in  his  confessions. 
Thus  expresses  his  feelings,  "  Whom  shall  I  find  to  reconcile  me  to 
thee,  O  God.-*  Shall  I  apply  to  an  angel.?  With  what  prayer  or 
sacrifices  am  I  to  address  him.'"  &c.,  &c.,  and  concludes,  "  the  true 
Mediator,  whom  thy  mercy  hath  sent  to  the  humble,  is  the  man  Je- 
sus Christ."  In  the  eighth  century,  the  doctrine  was  inculcated, 
that  a  confidence  in  the  works  and  merits  of  the  saints  would  secure 
salvation ;  but  they  had  become  the  objects  of  worship  as  early  as 
the  fifth  century.  This  is  probably  the  earliest  period,  at  Avhich  we 
may  date  the  positive  evidences  of  the  existence  of  this  superstiti- 
ous practice.  Origen,  in  the  third  century,  taught,  that  "  We 
ought  to  send  up  to  God  w^ho  is  above  all  things,  all  our  demands, 
prayers  and  requests,  by  the  great  High  Priest,  the  living  Word, 
and  God,  who  is  above  all  the  angels." 

The  papists  have  not  only  substituted  the  worship  of  saints  for 
that  of  God,  but  they  have,  under  this  strong  delusion  to  believe  a 
lie,  perverted  the  Psalms  of  David,  by  inserting  "our  Lady,"  or 
"the  Virgin,"  wherever  the  name  "Jehovah"  or  "God"  occurs; 
and  this  work  of  blasphemy  against  God,  they  have  impiously  en- 
titled "  the  Psalter  of  the  Virgin." 

As  we  approach  the  close  of  this  century,  the  arrogance  of  the 
pontifls  appears  to  transcend  all  bounds.  Adrian  IV.,  obliged  the 
emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa,  to  perform  the  office  of  equery,  and 
to  hold  the  stirrup  of  his  holiness.  But  that  prince  was  subjected 
to  a  more  humiliating  posture  by  Alexander  III.,  the  successor  of 
Adrian.  Whilst  he  was  performing  the  menial  ceremony  of  kissing 
the  foot  of  this  ghostly  father,  the  haughty  pontiff  placed  the  other 
upon  his  neck,  repeating  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  Thou  shalt 
tread  upon  the  lion  and  adder;  the  young  lion  and  the  dragon  shalt 
thou  trample  under  feet."  Pope  Celestine  III.,  kicked  the  crown 
from  the  head  of  the  emperor  Henry  VI.,  whilst  he  was  doing  hom- 
age on  his  knees.  Thus  did  each  pontiff  rise  above  the  pretensions 
of  his  predecessors.  The  acquisition  of  one  power  strengthened 
the  usurpation  of  still  higher  prerogatives;  and  when  Innocent  III. 
ascended  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  in  the  year  1198,  the  highest  ob- 
ject of  papal  ambition  appears  to  have  been  attained. 


1 2th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  179 

The  ninth  ecumenical  or  general  council  convened  at  the  Lateran 
in  the  year  1123.  The  eighth  had  been  held  in  Constantinople  in 
869.  Two  hundred  and  fifty-four  years  had  intervened.  The 
schism  between  the  Eastern  and  Western  churches  was  now  com- 
plete. The  Roman  pontiffs  appear  to  have  abandoned  all  further 
attempts  to  extend  their  spiritual  jurisdiction  over  the  East.  The 
Greek  emperors  were  solicitous  of  a  compromise  from  the  declin- 
ing state  of  the  empire,  but  the  unreasonable  demands  of  the  Ro- 
mish church  were  rejected  with  disdain  by  the  Eastern  clergy ;  and 
all  negotiations  for  a  pacification  terminated. 

The  controversy  on  the  true  nature  of  the  elements,  after  conse- 
cration, in  the  eucharist,  was  still  carried  on  with  animation ;  but 
without  any  decision  of  this  intricate  question.  Many  of  the  most 
learned  doctors  of  the  age,  sustained  the  views  of  Eerenger.  It  is 
certain,  however,  that  the  Church  had  not  yet  determined,  what 
should  be  received  as  the  orthodox  doctrine.  The  clergy  and  the 
laity  were  permitted  to  partake  both  of  the  bread  and  wine;  and 
either,  as  symbols  of  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ,  or  as  having 
been  converted,  by  consecration,  into  the  body  and  divinity  of  the 
Savior.  The  infallible  church  had  not  yet  definitively  expressed 
itself  on  this  point. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  is  an  important  epoch  in 
the  history  of  the  Reformation.  Its  progress  has  been  traced 
through  successive  centuries  from  the  year  251,  to  this  period.  We 
have  witnessed  the  efforts  of  dissenters  from  the  Church  of  Rome, 
to  check  its  usurpations,  to  correct  the  errors  of  its  doctrines,  and 
to  purify  it,  from  the  contamination  of  pagan  superstition.  These 
efforts  were  but  partially  successful.  The  papal  hierarchy  con- 
tinued to  advance  onward  in  its  career  of  universal  dominion;  and, 
at  the  same  time,  to  descend  deeper  into  the  pollutions  of  vice. 

When  Novatian,  in  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  seceded  from 
the  jurisdiction  of  Cornelius,  the  Roman  bishop  raised  the  standard 
of  reform,  and  organized  a  church  after  the  simple  model  of  the 
apostolic  churches,  the  Roman  see  extended  over  a  single  province ; 
and  although  it  had  already  acquired  a  degree  of  pre-eminence  over 
other  provincial  dioceses,  it  was  not  so  much  one  of  prerogative,  as 
of  honorable  distinction,  derived  from  the  capital  of  the  Roman 
empire  which  it  embraced.  The  Christian  churches  had  departed 
from  the  primitive  form  of  government ;  and  in  consequence  of  this 
departure,  abuses  had  crept  in,  and  vitiated  the  purity  of  religious 
worship.  The  pagan  government  of  Rome,  inimical  to  Christian- 
ity, exerted  its  influence  against  its  institutions;  and  therefore  made 
no  efforts  to  check  this  increasing  evil.  The  bishops,  notwithstand- 
ing the  frequent  and  severe  persecutions  by  tlie  emperors,  had  be- 
come domineering,  over  the  lower  orders  of  the  clergy ;  haughty 


180  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [l2th  ccntury. 

in  their  tone;  ostentatious  in  their  style  of  living;  and  luxurious 
in  their  habits.  The  forms  of  public  worship  were  more  calculated 
to  captivate  the  fancy  of  the  admiring  multitude,  than  to  promote 
vital  religion  and  lead  to  vital  piety.  The  contests  for  supremacy 
between  the  apostolic  churches  of  Rome,  Alexandria,  Antioch  and 
Jerusalem,  had  already  disturbed  the  peace  of  the  Christian  com- 
munities. Men  of  Christian  virtues,  lamented  this  early  exhibition 
of  prelatical  ambition,  this  early  introduction  of  corruption  and  vice. 
But  these  evils  sprang  necessarily  and  unavoidably  from  the  epis- 
copal form  of  government,  which  had  been  substituted  for  the  sim- 
ple republican  system  instituted  by  the  apostles,  and  were  therefore 
incurable. 

At  this  period,  one  man  made  a  stand  for  virtue  and  for  gospel 
truth.  This  was  Novatian,  a  presbyter  of  the  Roman  church. 
The  crisis  had  arrived;  and  Christians  who  deplored  the  decline 
of  vital  religion  rallied  under  his  standard,  in  the  cause  of  Christ 
and  his  church.  The  reformation  commenced,  but  under  the  mys- 
terious providence  of  God,  its  progress  was  successfully  opposed 
by  the  powers  of  darkness;  and  its  consummation  and  triumph  were 
delayed  for  a  period  of  twelve  hundred  and  sixty  years. ^  The 
Novatians  and  their  successors,  the  Paulicians,  have  been  traced 
through  a  series  of  centuries ;  from  their  origin  in  the  third,  to  their 
migration  into  Western  Europe  in  the  tenth  and  eleventh. 

The  Paulicians  who  settled  in  Albigesium,  or  the  southern  pro- 
vinces of  France,  and  known  in  history  as  the  Albigeois  or  Albi- 
genses,  are  supposed  to  have  removed  from  Italy.  This  transmi- 
gration must  have  taken  place  in  the  tenth  century.  Another  colony 
passed  over  from  Italy  into  the  Netherlands ;  probably  about  the 
same  time.  History  has  recorded  their  persecution  in  their  recent 
settlement  as  early  as  the  year  1026.  In  the  middle  of  the  tenth 
century,  Atto,  bishop  of  Vercelli,  (Sardinia)  complains  of  them  in 
his  writings,  as  a  refractory  sect,  and  impatient  under  the  govern- 
ment of  the  Romish  church.  There  is  indeed  no  authentic  record 
of  the  exact  time  of  their  migration  from  Thrace  and  Bulgaria. 
They  are  alluded  to  by  ecclesiastical  writers  who  preceded  the 
bishop  of  Vercelli.  So  early  were  they  discovered  along  the  tri- 
butaries of  the  Fo,  and  having  always  maintained  the  religious  doc- 
trines which  distinguished  the  inhabitants  of  the  Piedmont  valleys 
from  the  papists,  they  have  been  identified  with  the  Vaudois.  About 

'I  shall  mention  here  the  remarkable  coincidences  between  the  events  connected 
T^'ilh  the  establishment  and  preservation  of  the  Novatian  cliurcii,  and  the  vision  of 
the  apostle  John  related  in  the  Apocalypse.  The  woman  who  fled  into  llie  wilder- 
ness, and  remained  there  twelve  hnndred  and  sixty  days,  is  emblematic  of  tiie  Church 
which  for  that  number  of  years  abided  in  the  mountains  of  the  Alps  and  the  Chaly- 
bian  hills  of  Asia.  At  the  expiration  of  that  time,  Lefevre,  in  France,  Zwingle,  in 
Switzerland,  and  Lutlier,  in  Germany,  successively,  hut  independently  of  each  other, 
oommenced  the  great  work  of  the  Reformation.  They  are  prefigured  by  the  three 
angels  mentioned  in  the  14th  chapter.  The  two  witnesses  of  the  11th  chapter,  re- 
present the  Novatians  or  Paulicians  and  the  Vaudois. 


12th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  181 

the  close  of  the  tenth  century,  their  numbers  were  greatly  increased ; 
and  in  the  following,  or  eleventh  century,  they  inundated  the  Wes- 
tern States  of  Europe.  In  the  year  1040,  they  were  numerous  in 
the  city  of  Milan.  In  the  thirteenth  century,  some  of  their  churches 
in  Italy  contained  from  five  to  fifteen  hundred  members.  They  were 
called  Paterini ;  and  this  points  them  out  as  the  descendants  of  the 
Paulicians  of  Bulgaria  and  Thrace.  A  branch  of  those  settled  in 
France,  passed  over  to  England  in  the  year  1160,  to  escape  the 
pursuit  of  their  popish  persecutors.  They  were  called  in  that 
country,  Pophlicians  and  Piihlicans ;  a  manifest  corruption  of  their 
original  name;  but  proving  their  identity. 

That  there  may  be  no  confusion  in  reference  to  these  several  re- 
ligious denominations,  I  shall  here  recapitulate  the  prominent  dis- 
tinction which  marks  their  difference.  The  Paulicians  who  settled 
in  France,  are  known  in  history  as  Albigeois  or  Albigenses.  Those 
who  removed  to  Italy,  were  called  Paterini ;  but  from  their  intimate 
alliance,  from  identity  of  religious  principles  with  the  inhabitants 
of  Piedmont,  they  were  not  distinguished  from  them  in  the  popish 
persecutions,  and  were  insensibly  blended  with  them,  as  forming- 
one  denomination.  Their  name  soon  disappeared  from  the  pages 
of  ecclesiastical  history.  The  Albigenses  of  France,  and  the  Vau- 
dois,  Valdenses,  or  Waldenses  of  the  Alps  and  the  Piedmont  val- 
leys, were  the  distinctive  appellations,  which  embraced  those  great 
branches  of  dissenters  from  the  papal  church. 

No  branch  of  the  Christian  Church  has  excited  so  much  interest 
as  that  of  the  valley.  Its  antiquity  has  been  the  subject  of  histori- 
cal investigation  for  more  than  three  hundred  years  past.  Its  pu- 
rity in  doctrines  and  faith,  has  extorted  the  commendations  of  its 
enemies.  "  Those  very  persons,"  says  Sismondi,  "  who  punished 
the  sectaries  with  frightful  torments,  have  alone  taken  it  upon 
themselves  to  make  us  acquainted  with  their  opinions;  allowing  at 
the  same  time  that  they  had  been  transmitted  in  Gaul'  from  genera- 
tion to  generation,  almost  from  the  origin  of  Christianity.  We  can- 
not be  astonished  if  they  have  represented  them  to  us,  with  all  those 
characters,  which  might  render  them  the  most  monstrous,  mingled 
with  all  the  fables  which  would  serve  to  irritate  the  minds  of  the 
people  against  those  who  professed  them.  Nevertheless,  amidst 
many  puerile  and  calumnious  tales,  it  is  still  easy  to  recognize  the 
principles  of  the  Reformation  of  the  sixteenth  century,  j^ong  the 
heretics,  who  are  designated  by  the  name  of  Vaudois  and  Albigeois." 
Reinerius  Saccho,  who  was  an  inquisitor,  says,  the  "  Waldenses 
flourished  five  hundred  years  before  Peter  Waldo."  This  carries 
us  back  to  the  exact  time  when  the  sect  of  the  Paulicians  was  re- 
vived by  Constantine  Sylvanus,  in  the  seventh  century ;  and  evi- 

'That  part  of  Gaul  which  lies  in  Italy,  was  called  Ci.salpine  Gaul,  that  on  tlio 
opposite  side  of  the  Alps  was  called  Transalpine  Gaul;  Cisalpine  Gaul  embraced 
the  valleys  of  Piedmont. 


182  THE  CHURCH  OF  cHuiST,  [12th  centurj. 

dently  points  out  an  identity  of  doctrines  between  them.  Grants, 
in  his  history  of  "  The  United  Brethren,"  ^  says  "  These  ancient 
Christians,  who,  besides  the  several  names  of  reproach  given  them, 
were  at  length  denominated  Waldenses,  from  one  of  their  most  em- 
inent teachers,  Peter  Waldo,^  date  their  origin  from  the  beginning 
of  the  fourth  century;  when  one  Leo,  at  the  great  revolution  in  re- 
ligion under  Constantine  the  Great,  opposed  the  innovations  of  Syl- 
vester, bishop  of  Rome."  Constantine  made  many  important  changes 
in  the  government  of  the  empire.  When  he  extended  his  protec- 
tion to  the  Christian  Church,  after  his  professed  conversion,  he  as- 
sumed the  control  of  ecclesiastical  affairs  also.  By  his  authority, 
the  orders  of  the  clergy  were  new  modeled,  to  conform  with  the 
distinctions  in  the  civil  officers  of  the  State.  The  four  prefects 
were  represented  in  the  Church  by  the  four  patriarchs;  who  were, 
before  the  investment  of  this  new  dignity,  provincial  or  metropoli- 
tan bishops.  This  still  higher  elevation  of  that  ecclesiastical  of- 
ficer known  in  the  apostolic  church  as  the  presbyter  or  elder,  oc- 
casioned another  secession  from  the  Church.  When  Novatian 
withdrew  from  communion  with  the  Church,  that  officer  had  reached 
the  eminence  of  provincial  bishop.  There  is  no  doubt  that  these 
seceders,  impelled  by  one  common  motive,  harmonized  in  their  re- 
ligious associations.  This  secession  of  Leo  and  his  followers  oc- 
curred about  seventy  years  after  Novatian  had  organized  his  church. 
When  we  compute  the  extent  of  time  which  intervened,  between 
this  period  and  the  time  when  the  historian  wrote  his  account  of  the 
antiquity  of  the  Waldenses,  we  may  very  easily  suppose,  that  the 
dissenters  in  the  begmning  of  the  fourth  century,  might  in  fact  have 
been  the  followers  of  Novatian.  The  Novatians  are  known  through 
many  successive  centuries  to  have  constantly  resisted  the  encroach- 
ments of  the  Roman  hierarchy,  on  the  rights  and  religious  privileges 
of  the  laity. 

From  other  authorities  we  are  informed  that  the  Vaudois  affirmed 
in  support  of  their  great  antiquity,  that  "  their  doctrine  and  discip- 
line had  been  preserved  in  all  their  purity  and  efficacy,  from  the 
days  of  the  primitive  martyrs  in  Spain,  France,  Germany,  Italy, 
and  especially  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont."  This  would  again 
carry  us  back  to  the  days  of  Novatian.  The  successive  persecu- 
tions which  commenced  at  the  accession  of  Decius,^  in  the  year 
249,  were  continued  with  occasional  intermissions  until  the  year  275. 

'  "The  Waldenses,"  says  ITallam,  "of  whom  the  very  monkish  historians  speak 
well,  appear  to  have  nearly  resembled  the  modern  Moravians." 

-This  is  not  correct.  The  Vaudois  were  called  Valdenses,  whence  the  term  Wal- 
denses, long  before  the  existence  of  Peter  Waldo.  He  adopted  the  tenets  of  the 
Vaudois,  and  assumed  the  Latin  name  of  Valdus,  from  which  comes  Waldo.  But 
this  will  be  more  fully  explained  hereafter. 

"The  persecution  of  the  Christians  in  the  reign  of  Decius,  is  the  seventh  general 
persecution  recorded  in  J)istory.     The  first  commenced  under  Nero,  in  the  year  64. 


12th  century.]  the  church  of  chbist.  183 

Under  the  reign  of  Valerian,  an  edict  was  published  in  the  year 
257.  By  this  edict  the  Christians  were  cruelly  put  to  death  in  all 
the  provinces  of  tlie  Roman  empire.  The  object  of  this  persecu- 
tion seems  to  have  been  an  entiie  extirpation  of  the  Church,  Rei- 
nerius  Saccho,  from  whose  writings  1  have  already  quoted,  speak- 
ing of  the  Paterini  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  valleys,  who  were 
brought  under  the  sentence  of  persecution  pronounced  against  the 
dissenters  from  the  church  of  Rome  as  Waldenses,  says  "  Of  all 
the  sects  which  have  been,  or  now  exist,  none  is  more  injurious  to 
the  church  (of  Rome,)  for  three  reasons:  1st.  Because  it  is  the 
most  ancient.  Some  aver  their  existence  from  the  time  of  Sylves- 
ter; others  from  the  very  time  of  the  apostles.  2d.  Because  it  is 
so  universal.  There  is  scarcely  any  country  into  which  this  sect 
has  not  crept.  And  3d.  Because  all  other  heretics  excite  horror 
by  the  greatness  of  their  blasphemies  against  God ;  but  these  have 
a  great  appearance  of  piety,  as  they  live  justly  before  men,  believe 
rightly  all  things  concerning  God,  and  confess  all  the  articles  which 
are  contained  in  the  creed;  only  they  hate  and  revile  the  church  of 
Rome,  and  in  their  accusations,  are  easily  believed  by  the  people." 

Here  then,  we  have  the  most  undoubted  testimony  of  the  great 
antiquity  of  a  Christian  Church,  under  the  simple  form  of  govern- 
ment received  from  the  hands  of  the  apostles,  and  maintaining  the 
doctrines  of  the  Scriptures;  a  church,  traced  back  by  historical 
records  to  the  middle  of  the  third  century,  separate  and  distinct 
through  all  ages  from  the  corrupt  hierarchy  of  Rome;  and  having 
undoubted  claims  to  be  regarded  as  the  pure,  uncoirupted  and  Apos- 
tolic Church  of  Christ. 

One  of  the  remarkable  features  of  this  church  is  the  assiduous 
study  of  the  Scriptures.  This  fact  is  established  by  the  concurrent 
voices  of  all  who  have  transmitted  accounts  of  its  discipline  and 
doctrines  from  the  remotest  period  of  its  antiquity.  To  this  we 
must  attribute  the  preservation  of  its  institutions  uncontaminated  by 
the  vices  and  corruptions  of  popery.  The  manuscript  chronicle 
(referred  to  by  Hallam,)  discovered  in  the  abbey  of  Corvey,  writ- 
ten about  tlie  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  describes  the  Vau- 
dois,  as  descended  from  an  ancient  race.  "  They  reject,"  says  the 
chronicle,  "  the  rites  of  the  cliurch  (of  Rome,)  which  they  believe 
to  be  new;  they  refuse  to  worship  images;  despise  the  relics  of 
saints;  they  represent  as  of  little  value  our  (the  popish)  religion, 
and  the  faith  of  all  Christians  of  ihe  Latin  church ;  and  they  com- 
mit to  memory  the  sacred  Scriptures."*  There  are  many  other 
evidences  of  this  admirable  trait  in  the  religious  cliaracter  of  the 
Vaudois.  "  1  have  heard  and  seen,"  says  Reineritis  Saccho,  "  an 
unlearned  rustic  who  recited  the  book  of  Job,  word  by  word ;  and 

'Appellamus  eos  idcirco  Manicliffios.  Iloriim  quidam  ab  Hungaria  ad  eos  conve- 
lierunl."  From  whicli  we  learn  who  were  Maniolitnans  in  the  opinion  of  papists. 
The  last  sentence  refers  to  rauliciana  who  had  united  with  the  V&udois. 


184  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [12th  ccntury. 

many  who  perfectly  knew  the  New  Testament."  So  conversant 
were  they  with  these  sacred  writings,  and  so  implicitly  did  they 
rely  upon  its  infallible  instructions,  that,  as  Reinerius  has  also  stated, 
"  Whatever  a  doctor  of  the  (Romish)  church  teaches,  which  he 
does  not  prove  from  the  New  Testament,  they  consider  it  as  en- 
tirely fabulous,"  "  which,"  adds  the  writer,  "•  is  contrary  to  the 
doctrine  of  the  Romish  church."  They  have  been  charged  by 
some  of  their  enemies  with  rejecting  the  Old  Testament;  but  bishop 
Usher  has  proved  that  they  received  it  as  canonical  Scripture. 
"  They  translated,"  as  Reinerius  has  stated,  "  the  Old  and  New 
Testament  into  the  vulgar  tongues,  and  spake  and  taught  according 
to  them."  The  Bible,  as  now  received  by  all  Protestant  denomi- 
nations, was  their  only  rule  of  faith,  they  utterly  rejected  tradition 
and  the  authority  of  the  fathers.  Thus  drawing  their  doctrines 
from  the  pure  fountain  of  spiritual  truth,  and  modeling  their  ec- 
clesiastical institutions  agreeably  to  the  apostolic  church,  we  cannot 
be  surprised  at  the  soundness,  purity,  and  spirituality  of  their  re- 
ligious tenets,  and  the  simplicity  of  their  form  of  government. 

A  comprehensive  summary  of  their  faith  may  be  thus  briefly 
stated :     "  They  rejected  images,  crosses,  relics,  legends,  tradi- 
tions, auricular  confessions,  indulgences,  absolutions,  clerical  celib- 
acy, orders,  titles,  tithes,  vestments,  monkery,  masses,  prayers  for 
the  dead,  purgatoiy,  invocation  of  saints  and  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
holy  water,  festivals,  processions,  pilgrimages,  vigils, lent,  pretend- 
ed miracles,  exorcisms,  consecrations,  conhrmations,  extreme  unc- 
tion, canonization,  &c.     They  condemned  the  use  of  liturgies,  es- 
pecially in  an  unknown  tongue.    They  condemned  the  mystical  and 
allegorical  interpretations  of  Scripture.     They  believed  that  there 
is  one  God,  almighty,  all-wise,  and  all-good;  tlmt  Christ  is  our  life, 
truth,  peace,  and  righteousness,  and  our  pastor,  priest,  and  advo- 
cate, who  died  for  the  salvation  of  all  who  believe,  and  is  risen  for 
our  justification ;  that  he  is  the  only  mediator  and  advocate  with 
God  the  Father,  &c.     They  maintained,  that  to  be  the  Church  of 
Christ,  which  hears  the  pure  doctrine  of  Christ,  and  observes  the 
ordinances  instituted  by  him,  in  whatever  place  it  exists.     They 
received  hut  two  sacraments,  baptism  and  the  supper  of  the  Lord. 
Both  the  bread  and  the  wine  were  administered  in  the  latter,  which 
they  believed  to  be  the  visible  emblems  of  invisible  things.     Their 
church  oificers  were  bishops,  elders,  and  deacons.     The  only  dis- 
tinction, however,  between  the  bishop  and  elders  was,  the  former 
title  was  giv°n  to  elders  who  were  oflicial  pastors  of  the  churches."  ^ 
It  seems  not  to  be  generally  conceded  that  baptism  was  administer- 
ed by  immersion.     Whether  they  were  Pcdobajitists,  has  been  a 
controverted  question ;  but  it  is  very  probable  that  they  were   not, 
until  a  late  period.    Milncr  states  that  there  is  no  positive  evidence 
of  their  iiaving  been  opposed  to  infant  baptism.     Jones,  on  the  oth- 

' Encyclopedia  of  Religious  Knowledge. 


12th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  185 

er  side,  affirms  positively  that  they  were.  This  question  may  he 
determined  by  either  party,  agreeably  to  their  respective  preju- 
dices, without  detracting;  from  the  character,  which  those  noble 
depositaries  of  the  truth  have  sustained,  of  pious  Christians,  and 
faithful  worshippers  of  the  spiritual  cross  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

The  religion  professed  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley,  was  par- 
ticularly odious  to  popery.  The  church  of  Rome  very  early  se- 
lected it  as  an  object  of  bitter  and  relentless  persecution.  It  was 
branded  with  every  opprobrious  epithet  which  could  cast  upon  it 
reproach  and  ignominy.  The  Vaudois  were  called  Manichaeans 
and  heretics;  and  in  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centuries,  when 
by  their  writings  and  persecutions,  the  papists  had  succeeded  in 
making  that  religion,  or  Vauderie  as  it  was  properly  termed,  a  by- 
word and  a  reproach,  that  term  was  used  to  express  whatever  was 
sinful  and  ignominious.  The  crime  of  sorcery  or  witchcraft  was 
called  Vauderie,  and  a  conviction  of  Vauderie  was  punished  by 
the  gibbet  or  the  flames. 

"  They  say,"  remarks  a  popish  writer  on  the  religious  profes- 
sions of  the  Vaudois,  "  that  they  alone  observe  the  evangelic  and 
apostolic  doctrine;  on  which  account, by  an  intolerable  impudence, 
they  usurp  the  name  of  the  Catholic  church.  They  declare  them- 
selves to  be  the  apostles'  successors,  to  have  apostolical  authority, 
and  the  keys  of  binding  and  loosing." 

Having  thus  given  a  general  outline  of  the  history  of  the  Albi- 
genses  and  Waldenses  to  the  commencement  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury ;  the  progress  of  the  reformation,  from  this  period,  will  be 
resumed. 

About  <he  year  1110,  Peter  de  Bruis  preached  the  doctrines  of 
the  relbrmation  in  Languedoc  and  Provence.  He  opposed  the 
worship  of  images  and  of  the  cross  ;^  maintained  that  the  elements 
in  the  eucharist  were  but  symbols  of  Christ's  body  and  blood; 
contended  that  the  good  works  of  the  living  could  be  of  no  benefit 
to  the  dead ;  that  houses  of  worship  acquired  no  peculiar  sanctity 
by  consecration;  and  that  crucifixes,  being  mere  objects  of  idola- 
try and  superstition  should  be  destroyed.  He  opposed  the  baptism 
of  infants.  He  seems  to  have  been  carried  by  his  religious  fervor 
to  the  verge  of  fanaticism ;  if  the  representations  of  his  popish 
enemies  be  correct.  Although  we  should  at  all  times  receive  those 
authorities  with  caution,  and  with  many  deductions  on  account  of 
their  habitual  suggestions  of  falsehood,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Peter 
de  Bruis  propagated  his  doctrines  with  fearlessness  and  zeal.  His 
laborious  and  indefatigable  ministry  was  continued  for  twenty  years. 
His  followers  were  numerous.  "  He  made  the  most  laudable  at- 
tempts," says  Mosheim,  "  to  reform  the  abuses,  and  to  remove  the 

'The  papists  admit  that  they  {jive  Latria,  or  the  sovereign  worship  which  is  pe- 
culiar to  God,  to  the  cross.  They  pray  to  it,  "to  increase  grace  in  the  godly,  and 
to  blot  out  the  sins  of  the  guilty."    They  kiss  it,  and  prostrate  themselves  bet'ore  it. 


186  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [12th  century. 

superstitions  that  disfigured  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  the  gospel." 
His  career  was  at  length  arrested  by  the  spirit  of  anti-Christ.  He 
was  pursued  by  the  Romish  clergy,  "  whose  traffic  was  in  danger 
from  the  enterprising  spirit  of  this  reformer.  His  character  was 
defamed,  and  his  doctrines  were  stigmatized  as  Manichaean  and 
heretical.  The  populace,  urged  on  by  the  idolatrous  priests,  rose 
up  against  him  ;  and  in  the  year  1 130,  this  pioneer  in  the  reforma- 
tion was  seized  and  committed  to  the  flames  at  St.  Giles. 

Peter  de  Bruis  wrote  a  treatise  on  anti-Christ,  in  which  he  ex- 
posed the  vices  and  corruptions  of  the  papal  church;  showed,  that 
as  a  system  of  iniquity,  it  is  the  anti-Clirist  mentioned  in  Scripture; 
and  exhorted  all  Christians  to  separate  themselves  from  it.  "  This 
is  the  congregation," he  said,  "which  taken  together,  comprises  what 
is  called  anti-Christ,  Babylon,  the  fourth  beast,  the  whore,  the  man 
of  sin,  the  son  of  perdition.  Its  ministers  are  called  false  prophets, 
lying  teachers,  the  ministers  of  darkness,  the  spirit  of  error,  the 
apocalyptic  whore,  the  mother  of  harlots,  clouds  without  water, 
trees  without  leaves,  twice  dead,  plucked  up  by  the  roots,  wander- 
ing stars,  Balaamites,  and  Egyptians.  It  is  anti-Christ;  because, 
being  disguised  under  the  name  of  Christ,  it  opposes  the  salvation 
which  Christ  wrought  out;  it  opposes  the  truth,  by  false  religion, 
by  counterfeit  holiness,  by  ecclesiastical  power,  by  secular  tyran- 
ny ;  it  transfers  to  images,  carcasses,  and  relics,  the  worship  that 
belongs  alone  to  God ;  it  robs  the  Savior  of  his  merits,  and  the 
sufficiency  of  his  grace  in  justification,  regeneration,  remission  of 
sins,  sanctification,  establishment  in  the  faith,  and  spiritual  nourish- 
ment, ascribing  all  these  to  its  own  authority,  to  a  form  of  words, 
to  its  own  works,  to  the  intercession  of  saints,  and  to  the  fire  of 
purgatory;  it  places  all  religion  and  holiness  in  going  to  mass;  it 
has  mingled  together  all  descriptions  of  ceremonies,  Jewish,  Hea- 
then, and  Christian;  it  allows  of  open  sins  without  ecclesiastical 
censure,  and  even  the  impenitent  are  not  excommunicated  ;  it  hates, 
and  persecutes,  and  searches  after,  and  plunders,  and  destroys  the 
members  of  Christ."  Such  are  the  characteristics  of  a  church, 
which  clearly  point  it  out  as  the  apocalyptic  woman,  whom  John 
in  a  vision  saw,  sitting  upon  a  scarlet  colored  beast ;  who  was  array- 
ed in  purple  and  scarlet  color,  and  decked  with  gold  and  precious 
stones,  and  pearls,  having  a  golden  cup  in  her  hand  full  of  abomi- 
nations and  filthiness  of  her  fornication ;  upon  whose  forehead  a 
a  name  was  written,  "  JWys^eri/,"  "  Babylon  the  Great,  the  "  Moth- 
er of  harlots,''^  and  '■'•  Mominutions  of  the  earth;''''  and  who  was 
drunken  with  the  blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  of  Jesus.^  "  This  is  the  church,"  says  de  Bruis,  "  which 
covers  its  iniquity,  by  pleading,  the  length  of  its  duration,  or  suc- 
cession of  time,  and  the  multitudes  of  its  followers,  the  spiritual 
authority  of  the  apostles,  and  its  miracles,  and  signs,  and  lying 

'Kevelatioiis,  chap.  xvii. 


12th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  187 

wonders.  This  is  tliat  anti-Christ,  which  covers  his  lying  wicked- 
ness, as  with  a  cloak,  or  garment,  tliat  he  may  not  be  rejected  as  a 
pagan  or  infidel ;  and  under  which  disguise  he  can  go  on  practicing 
his  villainies  boldly,  and  like  a  harlot." 

Such  was  the  language,  and  the  spirit  of  a  reformer  and  martyr 
of  the  twelfth  century,  or,  four  hundred  years  before  the  days  of 
Lefevre,  Zwingle,  and  Luther.  His  ministerial  labors  were  in  the 
southern  provinces  of  France,  and  there  he  suffered  martyrdom. 
Here  the  Paulicians  were  most  deejDly  implanted ;  and  here  the  Al- 
bigenses,  as  the  Paulicians  were  called,  were  populous  and  flour- 
ishing. He  is  notwithstanding,  mentioned  in  subsequent  histories 
as  one  of  the  most  distinguished  preachers  of  the  Waldensian  doc- 
trines; that  sect  indeed,  claimed  him  as  one  of  their  barbs;  and 
from  this  circumstance  we  may  infer  that  the  religious  opinions  of 
those  two  great  branches  of  the  Christian  Church  were  identical. 
After  this  period,  their  histories  are  blended  together  by  many  wri- 
ters who  have  transmitted  to  us,  the  accounts  of  their  persecutions 
and  sufferings.  The  followers  of  Peter  de  Bruis  first  assumed  the 
name  of  Petrobrussians ;  but  they  were  soon  united,  in  name,  and 
in  the  fortunes  of  the  Waldenses  and  Albigenses. 

In  the  bosom  of  the  Romish  church,  and  in  the  year  of  the  mar- 
tyrdom of  Peter  de  Bruis,  appeared  another  reformer,  but  of  a 
more  formidable  character  than  that  humble  and  pious  preacher  of 
the  gospel.  This  was  Arnold  of  Brescia,  a  disciple  of  Abelard 
and  Berengarius.  He  was  a  man  of  extensive  learning,  of  a  com- 
manding eloquence,  and  of  a  bold  and  enterprising  spirit. 

The  peace  and  order  of  the  city  of  Rome  were  disturbed  in  the 
beginning  of  this  century,  by  a  party,  whose  object  was  a  thorough 
reformation  in  the  state  as  well  as  in  the  Church.  From  the  op- 
pressions of  the  papal  power,  the  inhabitants  of  Italy,  but  more 
particularly  the  citizens  of  the  capital,  had  become  impatient,  and 
at  length  seditious.  They  were  spectators  of  the  follies  and  the 
vices  of  the  pontiffs,  and  were  therefore,  unrestrained  by  that  su- 
perstitious awe  and  veneration  which  by  foreigners,  were  attached 
to  the  character  and  person  of  the  spiritual  and  temporal  head  of 
the  Church.  This  dissatisfaction  was  frequently  exhibited  by  tu- 
multuous assemblies,  by  riots,  and  by  the  violence  of  armed  par- 
ties, who  assaulted  the  palace,  and  sometimes  the  persons  of  the 
popes.  The  religious  processions  of  the  clergy  were  interrupted 
by  hostile  threats,  and  dispersed  by  darts  and  stones.  Paschal  11., 
whilst  officiating  at  the  altar,  was  compelled  to  throw  off  his  pon- 
tificals, and  to  escape  the  danger  which  threatened  him  by  a  hasty 
and  an  ignominious  flight.  His  successor,  Gelasius  II.,  shared  a 
more  imminent  and  a  more  disgraceful  fate,  soon  after  his  elevation 
to  the  papal  chair.  A  baron,  followed  by  the  armed  multitude, 
forcibly  entered  the  church  in  which  the  pope  and  his  cardinals 
were  assembled  ;  seized  the  holy  father  by  the  throat,  drew  him 


188  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [12th  ceiitury, 

out  by  the  hair  of  his  head,  and  after  beating  him  with  his  fists, 
and  severely  bruising  him  with  his  heels,  secured  him  in  his  own 
house  with  an  iron  chain.  Not  many  days  after  his  release,  he  was 
again  attacked  by  an  armed  force.  During  the  conflict,  the  ghost- 
ly father  succeeded  in  making  his  escape;  and  flying  from  the 
scene  of  danger  in  his  sacerdotal  robes,  secreted  himself  behind 
the  church  of  St.  Peter.  "  I  say  it  before  God  and  the  Church,  I 
would  rather  have  one  emperor  than  so  many  masters,"  was  the 
humble  confession  of  the  terrified  Gelasius.  Lucius  II.  whilst 
storming  the  capitol  which  his  enemies  had  forcibly  seized,  was 
struck  by  a  stone,  and  died  soon  after.  Lucius  HI.,  who  succeed- 
ed the  ambitious  and  haughty  Alexander,  was  endangered  by  the 
ungovernable  spirit  which  actuated  the  populace ;  and  insulted  by 
the  cruelties  inflicted  by  them  upon  his  Servants.  In  a  civil  com- 
motion, says  Gibbon,  several  of  his  Priests,  had  been  made  prison- 
ers ;  and  the  inhuman  Romans,  reserving  one  as  a  guide  for  his 
brethren,  put  out  their  eyes,  crowned  them  with  ludicrous  mitres, 
mounted  them  on  asses  with  their  faces  to  the  tail,  and  extorted  an 
oath,  that,  in  this  wretched  condition,  they  should  offer  themselves 
as  a  lesson  to  the  head  of  the  church.  The  same  writer  remarks, 
that  Rome  continually  presented  the  aspect  of  war  and  discord  ; 
the  Churches  and  Palaces  were  fortified  and  assaulted  by  the  fac- 
tions and  families.  Such  was  the  state  of  the  Papal  city  through- 
out this  century.  These  facts  will  explain  the  circumstances  con- 
nected with  the  efforts  of  Arnold,  to  redress  the  grievances  of  the 
people,  under  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities,  by  which  they 
were  oppressed. 

To  restore  the  Roman  Senate  to  its  ancient  dignity  and  power, 
the  wealth  and  the  prerogatives  of  the  clergy,  must  be  reduced. 
To  give  stability  and  glory  to  one,  the  overshadowing  and  control- 
ling power  of  the  papal  throne  must  be  brought  within  a  narrower 
compass,  in  the  other ;  and  thus  an  equipoise  between  the  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  governments  would  be  permanently  secured.  In  oth- 
er words,  such  a  revolution  in  church  and  state  was  contemplated, 
as  should  restrict  the  former  to  a  jurisdiction  over  spiritual  matters 
only,  and  restore  to  the  other  the  civil  rights  which  had  been  wrest- 
ed from  it  by  the  usurpations  of  the  pontiffs.  Each  would  move 
in  its  appropriate  sphere.  This  was  striking  at  the  root  of  the 
evil;  and  the  corruptions  prevailing  in  both  would  have  been  cut 
off  from  their  sources.  The  whole  structure  of  popery  must  have 
crumbled  to  the  ground.  Such  seems  to  have  been  the  ultimate 
design  of  Arnold.  He  quoted  the  declaration  of  Christ,  "  My  king- 
dom is  not  of  this  world."  The  sword  and  the  sceptre,  he  said, 
were  the  insignia  of  temporal  princes ;  the  clergy,  from  the  abbot 
to  the  pope,  must  renounce  their  state  or  their  salvation.  They 
must  devote  themselves  to  their  spiritual  labors. 


12th  century.]  the  church  of  christ,  189 

An  ecumenical  council  (2d  of  Lateran)  in  the  year  1139,  con- 
demned Arnold,  and  he  retired  to  Zurich.  There  he  preached  with 
success,  his  religious  opinions;  and  planted  the  seeds  of  reforma- 
tion, which  sprung  up  in  a  congenial  soil,  and  showed  the  fruits  of 
his  labors  long  after.  The  bishop  of  Constance,  and  even  the  le- 
gate of  Innocent  II.  were  seduced  by  the  powers  of  his  eloquence, 
and  yielded  to  his  persuasions.  In  1143  he  returned  to  Rome,  and 
raised  the  standard  of  reform  at  the  gates  of  the  Vatican.  Tiirough 
his  influence  the  government  of  tlie  city  was  remodelled  ;  the  pop- 
ulace sustained  his  efforts,  and  the  clergy  were  humbled  by  the 
strength  of  his  adherents.  For  twelve  years  he  controlled  the  pop- 
ular feeling;  and  defied  the  authority  of  the  popes,  who  either  re- 
sided in  retirement  within  the  walls  of  their  palaces,  or  retired  as 
voluntary  exiles  into  the  cities  of  Italy.  On  the  accession  of  Adri- 
an, the  spiritual  arm  which  had  been  paralyzed  was  again  raised 
with  its  wonted  vigor,  in  defense  of  the  patrimony  of  St.  Peter. 
Rome  was  placed  under  an  interdict*  and  all  its  religious  privileges 
were  withdrawn.  The  churches  were  closed,  public  service  was 
suspended,  and  the  gates  of  heaven  were  shut.  The  expulsion  of 
Arnold  restored  the  city  to  the  divine  favor,  and  Adrian  triumphed 
over  his  enemy.  The  reformer  fled  to  Campania.  Frederick  Bar- 
barossa  who  courted  the  smiles  of  the  pope,  delivered  him  into  the 
hands  of  the  Roman  prefect.  He  was  condemned  as  a  heretic ; 
was  first  crucified,  and  burnt.  His  ashes  were  collected  and  thrown 
into  the  Tiber,  that  his  relics  miglit  not  be  worshipped  by  his  ad- 
herents. Adrian  accomplished  by  an  interdict,  what  his  predeces- 
sors could  not  effect  by  all  the  forces  of  the  ecclesiastical  state. 
Thus  perished  this  bold  reformer,  in  the  year  1155. 

Whilst  those  events  were  transpiring  in  Rome,  a  monk  and  her- 
mit from  Switzerland,  leaving  his  cell  at  the  foot  of  the  Jura  Moun- 
tains, traveled  through  the  middle  provinces  of  France,  propaga- 
ting the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation,  and  preaching  against  the 
superstition  of  the  times.  From  Poitou  he  passed  into  Guienne, 
and  from  that  province  he  went  to  Languedoc.  He  preached 
against  the  baptism  of  infants;  censured  the  profligacy  and  the  li- 
centious practices  of  the  clergy  ;  rejected  the  festivals  observed  by 
the  Church  ;  and  condemned  its  rites  and  ceremonies.  He  carried 
with  him  a  cross,  which  attracted  the  populace,  and  drew  to  him 
numerous  hearers  wherever  he  went.  In  the  year  1148  he  was 
seized,  and  by  the  order  of  Pope  Eugenius,  who  was  then  attend- 
ing a  council  at  Rheims,  he  was  committed  to  prison,  where  he 
soon  after  died.  His  followers  were  called  Henricians.  lie  is 
supposed  to  have  been  a  disciple  of  Peter  de  Bruis,  and  to  have 
preached  his  doctrines.  It  should  be  observed,  however,  that  the 
latter  so  abhorred  all  images,  that  none  escaped  iiis  violence  which 
he  touched.  Henry  bore  a  cross  throughout  his  pilgrimage ;  but 
not  as  an  object  of  worship.     This  was  a  marked  difference  be- 


190  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [12th  centuFj, 

tween  them.  It  is  not  certainly  known  what  his  doctrines  were, 
but  his  imprisonment  by  the  pope  is  an  evidence  of  their  spiritu- 
ality. 

Piedmont  is  now  the  principal  province  of  the  continental  states 
of  the  king  of  Sardinia.  It  was  formerly  a  principality  of  the  an- 
cient kingdom  of  the  Lombards.  It  was  afterwards  under  the  2:ov- 
ernment  of  the  dukes  of  Savoy.  Turin  is  its  capital,  and  is  situat- 
ed on  the  western  bank  of  the  Po,  at  the  foot  of  a  range  of  beau- 
tiful hills.  This  province  is  about  150  miles  in  length,  and  100  of 
medial  breadth.  It  enjoys  a  mild  and  pure  air,  and  distinguished 
fertility  of  soil.  The  valleys  extend  along  the  eastern  foot  of  the 
Cottian  Alps ;  hence  the  derivation  of  its  name.  These  form  the 
highest  range  of  mountains  in  Europe,  and  divide  Italy  from  France. 
The  mountains  of  the  Alps  form  a  crescent,  from  the  Mediterrane- 
an, northwardly  to  Switzerland,  which  they  separate  from  Pied- 
mont; and  thence  eastwardly  between  that  province  and  Germany, 
The  Appennines  extend  from  the  southernmost  point  of  the  Alps, 
along  the  coast  of  the  Mediterranean  eastward,  to  the  territories  of 
Parma  and  Modena,  and  thence  traverse  Italy  in  its  whole  length 
from  north  to  south.  Piedmont  is  thus  bordered  on  three  sides  by 
these  lofty  ranges  of  mountains.  The  tributaries  of  the  Po,  arise 
at  various  points  from  the  foot  of  these  mountains  throughout  their 
extent,  and  by  innumerable  ramifications  irrigate  every  portion  of 
the  numerous  valleys  within  the  province.  From  Mount  Cenis  to 
Mount  St.  Bernard,  between  Piedmont  and  Savoy,  and  thence  to 
Mount  St.  Gothard,  between  Switzerland  and  Piedmont,  the  range 
of  the  Alps  is  of  a  prodigious  height,  particularly  the  point  known 
as  Mons  Rosa. 

The  principle  valleys  are,  Aosta  and  Susa,  on  the  north  ;  Stura, 
on  the  south ;  and  in  the  interior,  Lucerna,  Angrogna,  Roccipiatta, 
Pramol,  Perosa,  and  San  Martino.  These  names  designate  the 
communes  into  which  Piedmont  was  divided.  Angrogna  is  sur- 
rounded by  lofty  mountains,  in  many  places  inaccessible,  and  was 
the  last  retreat  of  the  persecuted  Waldenscs.  The  sides  of  the 
mountains  surrounding  the  valley  of  Peagela  are  pierced  by  innu- 
merable caverns.  Into  these,  that  persecuted  sect  retreated,  and 
were  concealed  from  their  popish  murderers.  In  Mount  Vaudelin 
was  a  natural  cave  sufficiently  capacious  for  the  shelter  of  three  or 
four  hundred  persons;  and  was  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  conceal- 
ment of  those  unhappy  refugees.  So  much  of  the  geographical 
description  of  Piedmont  will  be  sufficiently  explanatory  of  the 
country  inhabited  by  the  Vaudois. 

Albigesium,  or  Gallia  Narbonensis,  embraced  the  provinces  in 
France,  afterward  krfbwn  as  Languedoc,  Provence,  Dauphine  and 
Savoy.  They  extended  from  the  Pyrenean  Mountains,  which  sep- 
arated Languedoc  from  Spain,  along  the  Mediterranean  to  the  Alps. 
In  Languedoc  the  range  of  the  Sevennes  begins  and  runs  northeast- 


12th  century.]  the  church  op  christ.  191 

wardly  into  the  ancient  division  known  as  Gallia  Lugdunensis. — 
This  latter  division  embraced  the  provinces  of  Lyonois,  Touraine, 
Franche-Comte,  Sivenois,'  &c. 

In  Albigesium,  or  as  it  has  been  termed,  the  country  of  the  Al- 
bigeois,  the  Paulicians  were  numerously  settled.  In  the  city  of 
Lyon  on  the  river  Rhone,  the  reformer  John  of  Lyons,  or  who  is 
better  known  as  Peter  Waldo,  began  to  preach  his  doctrines  about 
(he  year  1170.  This  being  witliin  what  was  called  Gallia-Lugdu- 
nensis,  his  followers  were  thence  denominated  Pauperes  de  Lugdu- 
no.  Their  founder,  however,  having  assumed  the  name  of  Waldo, 
as  shall  be  explained  hereafter,  they  were  distinguished  as  "  Wal- 
denses,  sive  Pauperes  de  Lugduno,"  as  equivalent  terms  in  the  acts 
of  the  inquisition.  They  were  also  called  in  some  places,  "  The 
Sect  of  Weavers,"  from  the  circumstance  of  their  obtaining  their 
livelihood  by  weaving. 

The  Albigenses  therefore,  as  well  as  the  disciples  of  Waldo, 
were  French;  the  Vaudois,  or  Waldenses  proper,  were  inhabitants 
of  Italy.  Before  the  severe  persecutions  commenced  in  the  latter 
part  of  this  century,  the  two  former  had  extended  over  the  provin- 
ces of  Guienne,  Saintonge,  Poitou,  Nivernois,  Berry,  Burgundy, 
and  indeed  through  all  the  middle  and  southern  provinces  of  France. 

"  It  was  in  the  country  of  the  Albigeois,"  says  Gibbon,  "  that 
the  Paulicians  were  most  deeply  implanted;  and  the  same  vicissi- 
tudes of  martyrdom  and  revenge  which  had  been  displayed  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Euphrates,  were  repeated  in  the  thirteenth 
century  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhone.^  The  laws  of  the  Eastern 
emperors  were  revived  by  Frederick  II.  The  Insurgents  of  Teph- 
rice,  (Tibrica,)  were  represented  by  the  barons  and  cities  of  Lan- 
guedoc;  Pope  Innocent  HI.  surpassed  the  sanguinary  fame  of  The- 
odora. It  was  in  cruelty  alone,  that  her  soldiers  could  equal  the 
heroes  of  the  crusades,  and  the  cruelty  of  her  priests  was  far  ex- 
celled by  the  founders  of  the  inquisition;  an  office  more  adapted  to 
confirm,  than  to  refute  the  belief  of  an  evil  principle.  The  visible 
assemblies  of  the  Paulicians,  or  Albigeois,  were  extirpated  by  fire 
and  sword ;  and  the  bleeding  remnant  escaped  by  flight,  concealment, 
or  Catholic  (popish)  conformity.  But  the  invincible  spirit  which  they 
had  kindled  still  lived  and  breathed  in  the  western  world.  In  the 
state,  in  the  church,  and  even  in  the  cloister,  a  latent  succession 
was  preserved  of  the  disciples  of  St.  Paul;  who  protested  against 
the  tyranny  of  Rome,  embraced  the  Bible  as  the  rule  of  faith,  and 
purified  their  creed  from  all  the  visions  of  the  Gnostic  theology." 

In  Toulouse,  then  the  capital  of  Langucdoc,  a  council  condemn- 
ed the  doctrine  of  the  Albigenses  in  the  year  1119,  and  they  were 

'It  will  be  recollected  that  these  are  not  now  the  civil  divisions  of  France. 

'The  river  Rhone,  whose  tributaries  sprinir  from  the  Jura  and  the  Vo?ges  Moun- 
tains, runs  through  the  provinces  of  Burgundy  an<l  Lyonois,  and  separates  the  Se- 
vennes  from  Dauphine,  and  Languedoc  from  Provence. 


1^2  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [12th  century. 

again  condemned  by  the  ecumenical  council  (2d  of  Lateran,)  whicli 
condemned  Arnold  of  Brescia  in  1139.  Tiiose  who  fled  from  these 
persecutions  and  passed  over  to  England  in  the  year  1160,  met  with 
no  better  fate.  They  were  arraigned  before  a  council  at  Oxford, 
and  when  it  was  ascertained  that  they  rejected  the  belief  in  purga- 
tory, offering  up  prayers  for  tlie  dead,  and  the  invocation  of  saints, 
they  were  branded  with  a  red  hot  iron  on  the  forehead,  were  whip- 
ped through  the  streets  of  Oxford,  deprived  of  their  clothing,  and 
driven  into  the  open  fields.  All  persons  were  prohibited  from  af- 
fording them  shelter  and  relief  under  the  severest  penalties.  This 
sentence  was  rigorously  executed ;  and  all  of  them  perished  from 
exposure  to  the  cold,  and  from  the  want  of  sustenance.  Their 
leader,  Gerrard,  professed  to  believe  the  doctrines  of  the  apostles, 
and  his  "replies,"  says  the  historian,  Rapin,  to  questions  in  relation 
to  their  religious  creed,  "  were  orthodox  as  to  the  trinity  and  incar- 
nation." "  They  showed  a  deal  of  modesty  and  meekness  in  their 
whole  behavior.  When  they  were  threatened  with  death,  in  order 
to  oblige  them  to  renounce  their  tenets,  they  only  said,  "Blessed 
are  they  that  suffer  for  righteousness'  sake."  Such  was  the  fate  of 
those  persecuted  sectaries.  They  were  driven  out  of  one  kingdom, 
to  suffer  in  another,  imprisonment,  cruel  tortures,  starvation,  and 
death. 

About  this  time,  or  a  little  after,  appeared  in  France  the  celebra- 
ted John  of  Lyons.^  He  was  a  wealthy  merchant  of  that  city. 
He  became  a  convert  to  the  reform  doctrines,  from  a  remarkable 
visitation  of  divine  Providence.  Having  renounced  the  pursuit  af- 
ter the  riches  and  emoluments  of  the  world,  he  devoted  himself  to 
the  study  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  he  translated  into  the  ver- 
nacular of  his  country.  He  instructed  his  own  family,  and  all  oth- 
ers who  were  disposed  to  listen  to  his  exhortations.  The  opposi- 
tion of  the  popish  clergy  stimulated  his  exertions,  and  gave  in- 
creased animation  to  his  zeal.  He  at  length  became  the  object  of 
persecution  •,  and  his  followers,  who  were  numerous  and  firm  in  their 
attachment  to  their  faith,  shared  the  fate  of  their  spiritual  teacher. 
They  were  dispersed  over  France,  Italy,  Germany,  England,  and 
Spain.  This  distinguished  leader  assumed  the  title  of  Peter  Val- 
dus;  the  former,  probably  as  an  apostolic  name,  agreeably  to  the 
ancient  custom  of  the  Paulicians ;  the  latter,  from  having  adopted 
the  doctrines  of  the  Vaudois  or  Waldenses  of  Piedmont.  From 
this  Latin  w^ord  Yaldus,  he  has  been  called  by  English  writers, 
Waldo;  by  wdiich  he  is  now  universally  known.  His  followers 
are  also  distinguished  in  history,  as  Valdenses  or  tlie  disciples  of 
Valdus,  and  as  Waldenses;  and  have  been  thus  blended  with  the 
ancient  sectaries  who  inhabited  tlie  valleys  of  Piedmont.  They  are 
to  be  distinguished  from  the  AValdcnses  of  those  valleys,  fiom  this 
circumstance,  of  their  more  modern  origin.    In  every  other  respect 

'Moshoim's  Ec.  Hist.  12th  cent.     Note  by  Maclaine. 


12th  century,]  the  church  of  christ.  193 

there  is  a  perfect  identity  between  them ;  and  this  tributary,  flow- 
ing as  it  were,  into  the  great  central  current,  has  been  ever  since 
united  with  it  in  character  and  name.  The  Petrobrusians,  the  Ar- 
noldists,  and  the  Ilenricians,  have  in  the  same  manner,  been  blend- 
ed with  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  great  branches  of  the  ancient 
reformed  church. 

It  does  not  appear  that  Peter  Waldo  had  ever  visited  the  valleys 
of  Piedmont.  Under  the  anathema  of  the  Romish  church,  he  first 
retired  from  his  native  city,  into  Dauphine.  The  curses  of  the 
pope,  Alexander  III.,  pursued  him  in  his  retirement,  and  from  that 
province  he  fled  to  Picardy,  where  his  doctrines  were  successfully 
propagated.  It  was  from  that  extreme  north-section  of  France, 
that  the  first  rays  of  spiritual  light  dawned  upon  the  great  reforma- 
tion of  the  sixteenth  century;  when  in  1511,  Lefevre  of  Etaples, 
boldly  began  the  revival  of  the  holy  religion  of  Jesus  Christ.  At 
the  close  of  the  twelfth  century,  Waldo  unfolded  to  that  benighted 
region  of  Christendom,  the  truths  of  the  gospel;  and  God  in  his 
providence  had  thus  prepared  the  way,  by  his  persecuted  servant, 
for  the  reception  of  those  life-giving  sounds,  which,  "  with  a  loud 
voice,  proclaimed  to  them  that  dwell  on  the  earth,  and  to  every  na- 
tion, and  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  '  to  fear  God,  and  give 
glory  to  him,  for  the  hour  of  his  judgment  is  come :  and  to  worship 
him  that  made  heaven,  and  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  the  fountains  of 
the  waters,'"  ^ 

Driven  from  Picardy,  Waldo  fled  to  Germany,  carrying  with 
him  the  glad  tidings  of  salvation.  In  the  year  1184,  he  went  to 
Bohemia,  where  he  died,  after  a  perilous  and  laborious  ministry  of 
twenty  years. 

It  may  not  be  irrelevant  to  mention  here,  in  confirmation  of  what 
has  been  already  said,  in  reference  to  the  true  derivation  of  the  ti- 
tle, by  which  the  inhabitants  of  the  valleys  have  been  distinguished, 
that  in  the  confession  of  their  faith  which  was  brought  to  light  by 
Pictetus,  and  which  is  dated  in  the  year  1120,  they  are  mentioned 
as  the  Vaudois.- 

About  this  time  the  popish  persecution  of  the  Church  which  was 
in  the  wilderness,  began  to  be  relentless  and  unremitted.  Thirty- 
five  citizens  of  Mentz,  were  burned  in  one  Auto  da  Fe,  in  the  city 
of  Bingen,  and  eighteen  in  Mentz.  These  cities  are  on  the  right 
bank  of  the  Rhine.  But  the  bishops  on  the  left,  were  less  active 
in  the  enforcement  of  the  bloody  decrees  of  the  pope.  In  Stras- 
burg,  in  the  province  of  Alsace,  eighty  heretics  were  committed  to 

'Lefevre  of  Etaples,  who  first  preached  in  the  16th  century,  the  scriptural  doc- 
triiio  of  juslifieatioii  by  fiiilh,  is  evidently  |)ref/gure(!  l)y  the  angel  rnpreseiitcd  in  tlie 
Revelation  xiv.  6,  as  having  the  everlasting  gospel,  &c. 

"That  confession  of  faith  declares,  that  "  Christ  is  our  life,  truth,  peace,  and  right- 
eousness; also  our  pastor,  advocate,  sacrifice,  and  priest,  who  died  for  the  salvation 
of  all  those  that  believe,  and  is  risen  again  for  our  justification."     Acts  viii. 

13 


194  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  centurj. 

the  flames.  In  1198,  Innocent  III.  ascended  the  chair  of  St.  Peter. 
In  the  same  year,  many  of  the  pastors  of  the  churches  which  pro- 
fessed the  doctrines  of  the  Waldenses  and  Albigenses  were  burned 
in  the  province  of  Nivernois.  But  the  acts  of  this  brutal  monster 
belong  to  the  history  of  the  thirteenth  century.  His  edicts  required 
the  bishops,  and  all  having  spiritual  authority,  to  commit  to  the 
flames,  to  disperse,  and  to  confiscate  the  property  of  the  recusant 
heretics  wherever  found,  "  who  would  not  worship  the  image  of 
the  beast." 


CHAPTER    IX. 

The  advance  to  power  and  opulence  by  the  popish  church, 
through  successive  ages ;  amid  the  vicissitudes  of  political  events, 
and  the  revolutions  of  empires,  seems  not  to  have  been  retarded 
by  those  causes  which  usually  impede  the  progress  of  temporal 
usurpations.  The  sacredness  of  character  attached  to  a  successor 
of  St.  Peter,  was  not  diminished  in  the  public  sentiment  by  the 
vices  of  the  actual  occupant  of  the  chair.  Crimes  of  the  most 
diabolical  character,  for  which  the  perpetrator  would  have  been 
hurled  from  the  loftiest  throne  in  Christendom,  were  either  over- 
looked or  connived  at,  when  committed  by  the  head  of  the  church. 
This  is  a  phenomenon  in  the  moral  history  of  man.  Here  is  a  pow- 
er that  increased  in  strength,  as  it  became  more  corrupt.  Chang- 
ing its  features  from  age  to  age.  But  as  those  features  became 
more  hideous  and  appalling,  "  all  men,  whose  names  are  not  writ- 
ten in  the  book  of  life,  worshipped  it,  saying,  who  is  like  unto  the 
beast  ?" 

The  knowledge  of  the  sciences  has  advanced ;  errors  in  philos- 
ophy have  been  detected  and  renounced ;  governments  have  been 
new  modeled  upon  principles  of  justice;  as  the  human  understand- 
ing became  more  enlightened,  and  the  natural  as  well  as  the  con- 
vential  rights  of  man,  have  been  more  clearly  defined  and  compre- 
hended. But,  with  the  sure  light  of  revelation  to  lead  us  into  the 
way  of  all  truth,  religious  error  still  retains  its  dominion  over  the 
human  mind ;  and  superstition  still  holds  it  in  captivity  to  a  most 
tyrannical  and  oppressive  hierarchy.  Popery,  the  most  amazing 
and  the  most  stupendous  work  of  the  spirits  of  darkness,  controls 
tlic  mind,  in  defiance  of  the  operations  of  its  highest  and  noblest 
faculties.  Here  the  progress  of  man  in  moral  and  intellectual  im- 
provement, has  been  arrested  by  an  influence,  whose  extent  we 
cannot  measure,  whose  duration  we  dare  not  conjecture. 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  195 

In  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  papal  power  had 
arrived  at  the  highest  point  of  its  elevation.  Kings  and  princes 
were  obsequious  to  its  authority.  "  There  was  given  to  it  a  mouth 
speaking  great  things  and  blasphemies.  It  was  given  unto  it  to 
make  war  with  the  saints,  and  to  overcome  them ;"  and  its  empire 
extended  over  all  kindreds,  and  tongues,  and  nations.  It  caused 
all,  both  small  and  great,  rich  and  poor,  free  and  bond,  to  receive 
a  mark  in  their  right  hand,  or  in  their  foreheads."    Rev.  chap.  xiii. 

"  The  popes,"  says  Mosheim,  "  inculcated  that  pernicious  max- 
im. That  the  bishop  of  Rome  is  the  supreme  lord  of  the  universe, 
and  neither  princes  nor  bishops,  civil  governors,  nor  ecclesiastical 
rulers,  have  any  lawful  power  in  church  or  state,  but  what  they 
derive  from  him."  It  is  true  that  this  Iiigh  pretension  was  not  uni- 
versally conceded.  An  energetic  prince  on  the  throne,  would  some- 
times dare  to  contest  it,  by  the  military  strength  of  the  empire,  and 
perhaps  with  partial  success.  But  a  conflict  with  the  supreme 
head  of  the  church,  called  for  the  most  cautious  exercise  of  tem- 
poral power;  and  could  not  be  maintained  without  the  utmost  pru- 
dence and  circumspection.  His  defeat  seldom  secured  to  the  vic- 
tor the  prize  of  conquest;  and  never,  an  exemption  from  future 
encroachments. 

The  plan  of  preserving  the  peace  of  Europe,  by  a  judicial  tri- 
bunal with  appellate  jurisdiction ;  which  the  ambitious  Gregory  had 
contemplated  in  the  eleventh  century,  and  which,  composed  of 
bishops  under  the  control  of  the  pontiffs,  would  decide  all  contro- 
versies arising  between  kingdoms  and  sovereign  states,  was  again 
proposed  in  the  beginning  of  this  century,  by  tiie  servile  minions  of 
the  pope.  It  is  certain  however,  that  Innocent  III.,  without  the 
formal  institution  of  such  an  ecclesiastical  body,  exercised  all  the 
prerogatives  of  a  general  pacificator;  if  the  arbitrary  disposal  of 
crowns  and  sceptres  can  be  viewed  as  measures  of  pacification. 
Innocent  possessed  the  ambition  and  the  courage  of  Gregory ;  but 
he  excelled  him  in  learning,  and  in  tlie  refined  arts  of  diplomacy. 
His  views  of  universal  dominion  were  not  less  extensive;  indeed 
they  embraced  a  much  wider  scope.  He  disposed  of  thrones  not 
only  in  Europe,  but  in  Asia.  He  gave  a  king  to  the  Armenians; 
and  placed  the  royal  crown  upon  a  duke  of  Bohemia.  He  con- 
verted temporal  kingdoms  into  spiritual  fiefs ;  and  thus  changed  a 
lay  into  an  ecclesiastical  tenure.  He  conferred  the  military  order 
of  knighthood  on  Philip  II.  of  Aragon,  and  placed  the  crown  upon 
his  head,  on  the  condition  of  his  perpetual  fealty  and  obedience  to 
the  see  of  Rome.  He  invested  the  duke  of  Bulgaria  \vith  the  en- 
signs of  royalty.  He  held  the  doubtful  scales  between  two  com- 
petitors for  the  imperial  throne;  first  thundering  his  excommunica- 
tion againt  one,  and  then,  conferring  the  imperial  title  upon  the  oth- 
er; afterward  declared  him  unworthy  of  the  crown,  and  proclaim- 
ed a  third  the  risrhtful  sovereign.     A  kin<;  of  Leon  married  his 


196  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  ccntury- 

cousin;  Innocent,  by  a  papal  bull  excommunicated  him,  and  placed 
his  kingdom  under  an  interdict.     Philip  Augustus,  of  France,  re- 
pudiated his  wife,  and  married  a  second.     A  papal  interdict  was 
enforced  over  the  whole  kingdom.     The  dead  remained  unburied, 
the  doors  of  the  churches  were  closed,  and  all  religious  rites  ceas- 
ed.   The  anathemas  from  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  pursued  the  unhap- 
py monarch,  until  he  restored  the  divorced  queen  to  the  throne. 
The  pope's  legate  was  arrested  by  the  king  of  Hungary  •,  Innocent 
threatened  to  cut  otf  the  succession  from  his  family,  and  the  legate 
was  released.     But  of  all  the  monarchs  who  felt  the  power  of  this 
Roman  pontitf,  John  of  England  stands  in  history  a  monument  of 
pusillanimity  and  of  servile  submission  to  the  authority  of  spiritual 
domination.     "  He  did  homage  to  Innocent,  resigned  his  crown  to 
his  legate,  and  received  it  again,  as  a  present  from  the  see  of  Rome, 
to  which  lie  rendered  his  kingdoms  tributary,  and  swore  fealty  as 
a  vassal   and  feudatory  ;  and  ohiiged  himself  and  his  heirs  to  pay 
an  annual  sum  of  seven  hundred  marks  for  England,  and  three  hun- 
dred for  Ireland,  in  acknowledgment  of  the  pope's  supremacy  and 
jurisdiction."     "  As  the  sun  and  the  moon  are  placed  in  the  firma- 
ment," said  Innocent,  "  the  greater  as  the  light  of  the  day  and  the 
lesser  of  the  night;  thus  are  there  two  powers  in  the  Church;  the 
pontifical,  which,  as  having  the  charge  of  souls,  is  the  greater; 
and  the  royal,  which  is  the  less,  and  to  which  the  bodies  of  men 
only  are  intrusted."     It  is  expressly  declared  in  the  canon  law, 
which  is  founded  on  the  legislative  authority  of  the  popes,  that 
"  Suhjects  owe  no  allegiance  to  an  excommunicated  lord,  if  after 
admonition,  he  is  not  reconciled  to  the  church."     Such  were  the 
assumptions,  and  usurpations  of  temporal  power  which  marked  the 
character  of  Innocent.    It  was  to  this  eminence  that  the  successive 
pontitfs  for  the  preceding  ten  hundred  years  had  been  laboring  to 
ascend.     They  arrived  in  the  beginning  of  this  century  at  their 
highest  point  of  culmination;  and  continued  in  the  meridian  of  their 
spiritual  dignities  and  temporal  exaltation,  until  the  removal  of  their 
residence  to  Avignon  in  France,  in  the  year  1309.     From  this  lat- 
ter period  there  was  a  manifest  declension  of  their  authority.     It 
is  to  this,  the  thirteenth  century,  that  we  should  look  for  a  correct 
exhibition  of  the  character  of  popery.     It  had  obtained  an  almost 
undisputed  pre-eminence  over  the  dominions  of  the  earth.     It  was 
then,  ihat  the  mystical  Babylon,  "  the  mother  of  harlots  and  abom- 
inations of  the  earth,  glorified  herself,  and  lived  deliciously  ;  and 
said  in  her  heart,  I  sit  a  queen,  and  am  no  widow,  and  shall  see  no 
sorrow." 

The  immediate  successors  of  Innocent,  who  were  distinguished 
by  the  several  titles  of  Ilonorius  III.,  Gregory  IX.,  and  Innocent 
IV.,  were  engaged  in  a  controversy  with  the  emperor  Frederick  II., 
the  grandson  of  Frederick  Barbarossa.  The  first  of  these  pontiffs 
was  less  aspiring  in  his  views  than  his  predecessor,  but  not  less 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  197 

tenacious  of  his  papal  rights.  Frederick  was  a  prince  endowed  with 
many  of  the  noble  virtues  of  his  ancestor,  and  designed  not  only 
the  establislunent  of  the  imperial  authority  in  Italy,  on  a  hrni  basis, 
but  also  the  diminution  of  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  popes  and 
higher  order  of  ecclesiastics.  The  ellbrts  to  attain  these  objects 
were  peculiarly  obnoxious  to  the  pontiffs,  and  were  resisted  by  them 
with  hrmness  and  spirit.  Gregory,  who  assumed  the  pontificate 
whilst  this  controversy  was  still  unsettled,  taking  advantage  of 
Frederick's  absence  from  his  dominions,  invaded  his  territories,  and 
endeavored  to  excite  against  him  all  the  princes  of  Europe.  The 
emperor,  informed  of  the  perfidy  of  the  pope,  hastily  returned 
from  Palestine,  whither  he  had  gone  in  a  crusade  against  the  in- 
fidels, regained  iiis  lost  possessions  ;  and  having  by  a  superior  force 
discomfited  his  adversary,  effected  a  compromise ;  and  received 
from  him  an  absolution,  for  the  offense  of  resisting  his  ghostly  father. 
But  Gregory,  although  defeated,  was  not  humbled ;  and  his  subse- 
quent aggressive  measures  urged  the  emperor  to  renewed  acts  of 
hostility.  This  brought  down  upon  him  the  most  deafening  thun- 
ders of  the  Vatican.  He  was  accused  of  the  most  flagitious  crimes, 
of  impious  blasphemies,  and  the  vilest  imputations  were  attached 
to  him,  which  the  imbittered  malice  of  his  enemy  could  invent.' 
These  charges  against  his  character  were  formally  presented  to  all 
the  courts  of  Euro])e.  This  contest  was  renewed,  or  rather  con- 
tinued by  Innocent  IV.,  who  solemnly  deposed  Frederick,  and  de- 
clared the  imperial  throne  vacant.  In  consequence  of  this  sentence 
the  princes  of  the  empire  elected  a  successor,  William,  count  of 
Holland.  William  II.,  married  a  daughter  of  the  duke  of  Bruns- 
wick-Lunenburg, and  was  therefore  the  representative  of  the  Guelfs. 
Frederick,  who  was  of  the  house  of  Suabia,  belonged  to  the  Ghi- 
helins.  The  origin  of  these  parties  has  been  mentioned  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  twelfth  century.  From  the  election  of  William,  ancient 
hostilities  were  revived  between  those  parties.  They  had  been  re- 
newed, however,  in  the  heginning  of  this  century,  in  the  dissensions 
which  then  arose  in  Lombardy.  The  death  of  Frederick  at  this 
juncture,  in  the  year  1250,  gave  a  temporary  triumph  to  the 
Guelphs,  and  a  permanent  advantage  to  the  pontitfs. 

In  the  year  1268,  the  cardinals  were  divided  into  two  factions, 
in  the  election  of  a  successor  to  Clement  IV.  This  contention  con- 
tinued for  three  years;  and  the  Roman  see  was  vacant  throughout 
that  period.  In  1271,  Thibald,  arch-bishop  of  Liege,  was  elected ; 
and  assumed  the  title  of  Gregory  X.  Although  whilst  arch-bishop, 
he  was  a  prelate  of  a  mild  disposition  and  of  moderate  pretensions ; 

'A  modorn  writer  h.is  remarked,  that  "the  rancor  of  the  bigoted  papists  against 
Frederick,  iias  Iiardly  subsided  at  the  present  day.-  It  is  well  known  that,  aitliougli  the 
public  policy  ot'  Rome  has  long  displayed  the  pacific  temper  of  weakness,  the  ther- 
mometer of  ecclesiastical  seniiment  in  that  city,  stands  very  nearly  as  high  as  in  the 
thirteenth  century."     Ilullaia. 


198  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [IStli  century 

as  pope,  he  strenuously  maintained  the  principles  of  his  predeces- 
sors, Gregory  VII.  and  Innocent  III.  He  declared  the  bishop  of 
Rome,  the  lord  of  the  world;  and  applied  them  practically  in  a 
mandate  which  he  directed  to  the  princes  of  Germany,  requiring 
them  to  proceed  in  the  election  of  an  emperor,  with  a  threat  of 
making  a  nomination  by  his  spiritual  authority.  Alphonso,  king  of 
Castile,  had  been  elevated  to  the  imperial  throne,  but  was  engaged 
in  a  war  against  the  Moors  in  Spain,  and  was  therefore  the  rightful 
sovereign.  Gregory,  however,  disregarded  iiis  just  claims  to  the 
crown,  urged  the  diet  to  proceed  to  the  choice  of  another;  and 
Rodolphus,  count  of  Hapsburg,  was  elected. 

Martin  IV.,  the  successor  of  Nicholas  III.,  and  as  arbitrary  in 
his  measures,  ambitious  and  overbearing  in  his  conduct,  as  that  arro- 
gant prelate  had  been,  commenced  his  reign  in  the  year  1281.  One 
of  his  first  acts,  was  to  excommunicate  Michael  Palaeologus,  the 
Greek  emperor.  The  king  of  Arragon,  incurred  his  displeasure, 
and  was  excommunicated  from  the  church  and  deposed.  His  va- 
cant throne  was  given  to  the  son  of  Philip,  the  bold  king  of  France. 
These  were  some  of  the  audacious  measures  of  a  reign  which  ex- 
pired in  the  fourth  year  from  its  commencement. 

After  the  death  of  Nicholas  IV.,  in  1292,  the  Roman  see  re- 
mained three  years  without  a  successor  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter, 
in  consequence  of  the  distractions  in  the  counsels  of  the  cardinals. 
The  elevation  of  a  recluse  to  the  pontificate  proved  unacceptable 
to  the  clergy  generally,  and  was  disapproved  of,  soon  after  the  elec- 
tion by  the  cardinals  themselves.  He  was  a  man,  austere  in  his 
character,  rigid  in  the  enforcement  of  the  moral  precepts,  and 
strenuously  opposed  the  licentious  practices  of  the  Roman  court. 
His  strict  virtues  rendered  his  administration  unpopular;  and  this 
good  and  pious  pontiif  was  forced  by  the  concurrent  voices  of  the 
several  orders  of  the  clergy,  to  resign  a  station  unworthy  of  his 
purity  of  moral. and  undissembled  sanctity.  Benedict  Cajetan,  who 
had  persuaded  this  good  and  virtuous  old  man  to  relinquish  his  seat, 
was  elected  his  successor;  and  assumed  the  title  of  Boniface  VIII. 
With  a  view  of  securing  the  quiet  possession  of  the  throne,  he 
seized  the  ex-pontiff  and  confined  him  in  the  castle  of  Fumone, 
where  he  remained  incarcerated  for  the  remainder  of  his  life.  The 
vices  of  Boniface  qualified  him  for  an  office,  which  had  been  filled 
by  a  succession  of  monsters  in  human  shape  unparalleled  in  the  his- 
tory of  ancient  or  modern  times.  His  administration  although  short 
is  replete  with  events,  and  occupies  an  important  page  in  the  annals 
of  popery. 

An  important  change  was  made  in  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  X. 
by  the  fourteenth  ecumenical  council  (2d  of  Lyons,)  in  the  year 
1274,  in  the  forms  of  electing  a  successor  to  the  papal  chair. 

For  a  period  of  nine  hundred  yrars,  or  from  the  middle  of  the 
third  century  to  the  pontificate  of  Alexander  III.,  in  the  twelfthj  the 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  199 

elections  of  the  bishops  of  Rome  were  conducted  amid  tumults  and 
disorders ;  and  were  determined  by  the  issue  of  contending  factions; 
and  these  conflicts  were  not  unfrequently  accompanied  with  civil 
wars  and  bloodshed.  By  a  law  of  Nicholas  II.,  about  the  year 
1060,  the  cardinals  were  empowered  first  to  make  the  selection  of 
a  candidate;  and  a  reference  of  their  choice  was  then  made  to  the 
other  clergy  and  to  the  people,  and  was  not  valid  without  their 
sanction.  Previous  to  this,  the  election  of  a  pontiff  was  entirely  a 
popular  one.  Alexander  III.,  in  the  next  or  twelfth  century,  re- 
stricted the  electoral  college  to  the  cardinals  alone.  This,  however, 
did  not  remove  the  evils  of  discord  and  faction.  In  this,  or  the 
thirteenth  century,  two  interregnums  occurred,  one  after  the  death 
of  Clement  IV.  and  another  after  the  death  of  Nicholas  IV.,  each 
of  three  years  duration.  In  1274,  the  decree  of  a  general  council, 
which  has  ever  since  been  embodied  in  the  code  of  the  canon  law, 
provided  that,  on  the  tenth  day  after  the  decease  of  a  pope,  each 
cardinal  shall  be  imprisoned  in  conclave.  Once  each  successive 
day  they  shall  meet  in  the  chapel  of  the  Vatican,  and  give  in  their 
votes.  This  is  continued  from  day  to  day  until  two-thirds  of  the 
votes  are  found  to  be  in  favor  of  one  candidate.  The  elections 
were  frequently  vitiated  after  the  adoption  of  these  severe  regula- 
tions, as  occurred  in  the  year  1314,  when  the  French  and  Italian 
factions  divided  the  college  into  two  parties.  This  contest  continued 
two  years  before  a  choice  was  made.  John  XXII.,  who  was  even- 
tually elected,  was  in  1328,  deposed  by  the  emperor  Lewis,  of  Ba- 
varia ;  and  his  choice  of  a  successor  was  ratified  by  the  acclama- 
tions of  the  Roman  people. 

It  has  been  seen  in  the  progress  of  this  history,  and  examples 
will  be  sufhciently  abundant  hereafter,  that  few  of  the  successors 
of  St.  Peter,  have  been  elected  by  any  established  form.  For  many 
centuries,  vacancies  in  the  see  were  filled  by  the  authority  of  the 
Roman  and  German  emperors;  and  throughout  the  first  fourteen 
centuries,  force  or  fraud,  violence,  bloodshed  or  intrigue,  have  de- 
termined who  shall  be  in  the  line  of  legitimate  succession. 

The  ecclesiastical  canons,  on  which  is  founded  the  jurisprudence 
of  the  papal  church,  consists  of  the  decrees  of  councils,  from  the 
reign  of  Constantine  the  Great,  and  of  the  rescripts  or  decretal 
epistles  of  the  popes.  The  fundamental  principle  upon  which  this 
code  of  laws  is  founded,  is  the  supremacy  of  the  spiritual  over  the 
temporal  power.  This  doctrine  pervades  the  whole  system.  "  The 
constitutions  of  princes  are  not  above  those  of  the  Church,  but  are 
subservient  to  them."  "  Vassals  owe  no  allegiance  to  an  excom- 
municated lord."  "  The  pope  may  depose  an  emperor  for  lawful 
causes."  Such  are  the  maxims  of  that  church,  which  have  gov- 
erned its  course  of  policy  in  all  its  temporal  relations,  from  the  re- 
motest period  of  its  usurpations.  The  laws  and  ordinances  of  the 
ecclesiastical  councils,  have  been  collected  and  condensed  for  con- 


200  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 3th  century, 

venlent  reference,  by  individual  authors  as  early  as  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury ;  and  subsequently  under  the  authority  of  the  pontiffs.  The 
most  ancient  collection  of  the  canons  and  rescripts,  was  made  by 
Gratian,  an  Italian  monk,  in  the  year  1140.  The  bishop  of  Char- 
tres,  twenty-six  years  before,  had  published  a  compilation,  entitled 
"  The  Decrees,''''  which  formed  the  ground-work  of  the  labor  of 
those  who  succeeded  him.  In  the  pontificate  of  Gregory  IX.,  Rai- 
mund  Barcinius,  collected  "  The  Decretals''''  into  five  books,  em- 
bracing the  rescripts  of  Alexander  III.,  Innocent  III.,  Honorius  III. 
and  of  Gregory  himself  This  volume  was  introduced  into  the 
theological  schools  and  the  universities;  and  was  received  as  of  the 
highest  authority  in  the  ecclesiastical  courts.  A  sixth  part  was  ad- 
ded about  the  close  of  this  century  by  Boniface  Vill.,  which  is  en- 
titled the  "  (Sexi,"  and  forms  a  supplement  to  the  work  of  Barcinius. 
The  constitutions  published  by  Clement  V.,  known  as  the  "  Clem- 
entines;'''' and  those  by  John  XXII.,  entitled  '■'•  Extravagantes  Joan- 
nis,^''  with  subsequent  pi  omulgations  by  other  pontitis  who  succeed- 
ed him,  are  also  received  into  the  code  of  canon  laws.  The  "jEa;- 
travagantes  Communes,''''  or  the  constitutions  of  John  and  his  suc- 
cessors, are  so  called  from  the  circumstance  of  their  having  been 
issued  as  the  occasion  demanded ;  and  not  being  at  first  included  in 
the  "  Corpus  Juris  Canonici,''''  they  were  considered  as  extra  va- 
gantes,  or  wanderers,  without  the  code ;  and  hence  the  title  which 
was  attached  to  them.  The  "  Directorium  Inquisitonmi,''''  embraces 
the  papal  bulls  on  the  subject  of  the  inquisition,  and  commentaries 
on  the  body  of  the  canon  laws  and  the  extravagants. 

The  infallible  church  had  not  before  this  century,  determined  the 
true  nature  of  the  elements  (the  bread  and  wine)  after  consecration, 
in  the  Lord's  Supper.  Gregory,  in  the  eleventh  century,  sustained 
the  views  of  Berenger  on  this  subject.  Having  consulted,  as  he 
says,  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary,  he  was  admonished  by  her  ("./2.  B. 
Maria  audivit,  et  ad  me  rctiilit,'''')  "  that  nothing  is  to  be  thought  or 
held,  but  what  is  contained  in  the  holy  Scriptures;"  against  which, 
says  Gregory,  Berengarius  has  advanced  nothing.  From  that  time 
the  Church  seems  to  have  view'ed  the  controversies  in  relation  to 
the  eucharist,  as  a  matter  to  be  settled  by  the  polemical  writers, 
and  by  each  communicant  for  himself,  according  to  his  conscience. 
Like  Gregory,  the  pontiffs  were  probably  disposed  to  discourage 
the  discussions  on  this  mysterious  subject ;  and  to  decide  nothing 
definitely  concerning  the  doctrine  of  the  real  presence,  in  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

To  Innocent  III.,  belongs  the  honor  of  ingrafting  a  new  doctrine, 
and  with  it  new  rites  and  ceremonies,  into  the  church  of  Rome.  At 
the  fourth  council  of  the  Lateran,  in  the  year  1215,  he  introduced 
the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  "  that  the  consecration  of  the 
bread  and  wine  produces  a  change  of  the  whole  substance  of  the 
bread,  into  the  substance  of  the  body  of  Christ  our  Lord,  and  of 


13th  century.]  the  church  op  christ.  201 

the  whole  substance  of  the  wine,  into  the  substance  of  his  blood." 
"  In  this  sacrament,"  says  the  papal  church,  "  is  truly,  really  and 
substantially  contained  whole  Christ  God-Man,  body  and  blood, 
bones  and  nerves,  soul  and  divinity,  under  the  species  or  appear- 
ance of  bread  and  wine."  In  this  celebration  of  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, or  "  in  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  the  same  Christ  is  contained, 
and  unbloodily  offered,  who  bloodily  offered  himself  upon  the  altar 
of  the  cross."  "  It  is  truly  a  propitiatory  sacrifice,  and  is  available, 
not  only  for  the  sins,  punishments,  and  satisfactions  of  the  living, 
but  also  for  those  of  the  souls  in  purgatory."  "  To  the  consecrated 
elements,  or  the  Host,^  must  be  rendered  the  same  sovereign  wor- 
ship, or  lalria,  which  is  due  only  to  God,  it  must  be  adored;  and 
prayers  are  to  be  offered  to  it."  Such  is  the  doctrine  of  transub- 
stantiation,  which,  as  an  article  of  faith,  was  unknown  in  the  Rom- 
ish church  before  the  thirteenth  century. 

This  doctrine  was  never  before  this  period  inserted  in  the  eccle- 
siastical code ;  nor  can  it  be  found  in  any  of  the  writings  of  the 
fathers.  Paschasius,  in  the  ninth  century,  deriving  his  notions  from 
the  subtle  distinctions  of  the  Polemics,  on  the  relation  bctueen  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  in  the  fourth  century,  advanced  the  doctrine  of 
consubstantiation  in  the  eucharist.  He  was  accused  of  entertaining 
gross  and  sensual  notions  on  a  subject  so  mysterious  and  spiritual 
in  its  nature.  Between  this,  and  the  doctrine  of  Innocent,  the  criti- 
cal acumen  of  a  metaphysician  can  discover,  at  least  the  shadow  of 
a  difference.  The  consubstantiality  of  spiritual  existences,  or  of 
the  Father  and  the  Son,  formed  the  orthodox  creed  of  the  Ho- 
moousians,  and  is  an  article  of  Christian  faith.  If,  "of  one  sub- 
stance in  kind,"  explains  the  term  Homoousios,  it  is  diflicult  to  dis- 
tinguish any  essential  difference  between  those  doctrines.  In  both, 
the  bread  and  wine  are  truly  and  really  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ.  In  consubstantiation,  those  elements,  or  the  substance  of 
the  bread  and  wine,  and  the  substance  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  are  homoousion  to  each  othei",  as  two  stars  in  the  firmament 
of  heaven  may  be  said  to  be  consubstantial  one  to  the  other;  and 
can  be  supposed  to  differ  only  as  one  star  differeth  from  another  in 
glory.  Thus  it  would  appear  that  the  doctrines  of  Paschasius  and 
of  Innocent,  were  the  same  in  all  their  essential  features. 

The  Reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  adopted  the  term  intro- 
duced by  Paschasius,  to  express  their  Protestant  faith  ;  but  became, 
in  consequence  of  its  inapplicability  to  the  new  opinions  they  ad- 
vanced, involved  in  a  labyrinth  of  difhculties.  From  the  unhappy 
choice  of  this  phrase  they  were  very  properly  charged  with  believ- 
ing that  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  are  changed  into  one  sub- 
stance with  the  l)read  and  wine."  Luther,  however,  denied  that 
the  elements  are  so  changed  after  consecration ;  and  in  explanation 

'Host,  from  Ilostia,  a  sacrifice.  Tho  vessel  in  which  the  Host  is  deposited  is  called 
a  cibory,  which  is  a  covered  chalice. 


202  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  ccntury. 

of  his  creed  imputed  to  the  body  and  blood  of  Christ  such  a  pres- 
ence in  the  bread  and  wine,  as  caloric  is  present  in  heated  iron. 
"  As  in  red-hot  iron  two  distinct  substances,  iron  and  fire,  are  unit- 
ed, so  is  the  body  of  Christ  joined  with  the  bread."  This  illustra- 
tion was  similar  to  that  of  Origen  in  his  doctrine  of  the  Trinity, 
"  that  the  Son  was  in  the  Father,  as  mind  or  the  reasoning  faculty 
is  in  man  ;"  and  the  divine  energy  proceeding  from  this  union,  which 
he  defined  to  be  the  Holy  Ghost,  might  be  supposed  to  be  analo- 
gous to  tliat  influence  which  is  exerted,  as  explained  by  Luther,  on 
all  those  who  receive  the  bread  and  wine,  by  the  invisible,  glorified 
body  and  blood  of  Christ,  which  are  actually  present  in  those  con- 
secrated elements.  But  the  doctrine  of  the  Protestant  churches  on 
this  subject  will  be  more  particularly  referred  to  in  its  appropriate 
place. 

This  sacrament  is  administered  by  the  papal  church  as  a  propiti- 
atory sacrifice ;  and  it  maintains,  that  "  the  consecrated  elements 
are  offerings  made  to  God  for  the  sins  of  the  people,  in  the  same 
sense  as  the  expiatory  sacrifices  of  the  Jewish  law,  and  not  merely 
commemorative  tokens."  Upon  this  foundation  was  raised  the  im- 
mense structure  of  superstitious  rites  which  now  constitute  the  pi'in- 
cipal  part  of  its  public  worship.  Hence  arose,  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass,^  the  adoration  of  the  Host;  in  which  the  people  fall  down 
on  their  knees  and  worship  it,  the  mediatorial  character  attributed 
to  the  Romish  priests,  the  annual  festival  of  the  Holy  Sacrament, 
&c. 

As  the  consecrated  elements  were  no  longer  simply  bread  and 
wine,  or  as  expressed  in  a  popish  liturgy,  "  This  is  not  bread,  but 
God  and  man,  my  Savior,"  but  objects  of  divine  worship,  the  pos- 
ture of  prayer  and  adoration  was  substituted  for  that  in  which  the 
disciples  received  them  from  the  hands  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
The  communicants  no  longer  sat  around  a  table,  but,  as  worship- 
pers of  the  Host,  they  kneeled  around  the  altar  on  which  their  God 
was  placed,  deposited  in  a  golden  chalice;  nor  did  they  dare  to 
touch  those  elements  with  their  profane  hands,  but  the  priests,  after 
pronouncing  the  words,  '■'•judim  me,  &c.,"  from  the  Psalmist,  and 
making  many  reverential  gesticulations,  would  take  the  deified  mor- 

'In  the  ceremonies  of  the  Mass,  the  priest  puts  over  his  head  a  white  veil,  or  the 
amice,  in  imitation  of  the  Magian  priest,  when  he  officiates  at  the  Altar  of  the  Sun. 
When  ho  puts  it  on,  he  says,  "  Put  on,  O  Lord,  tiie  helmet  of  salvation  upon  my 
head,  that  I  may  overcome  all  diabolical  temptations." 

He  also  has  a  long  white  garment,  or  the  Alb.  In  putting  this  on,  he  says,  "  Make 
me  wliite,  O  Lord,  and  cleanse  my  heart,  that  being  whitened  in  tiie  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  I  may  enjoy  everlasting  gladness." 

The  girdle  is  then  put  around  him.  When  this  is  done,  he  offers  up  a  third  prayer, 
"  Gird  me,  O  Lord,  with  the  girdle  of  purity,  and  quench  in  my  loins  the  humor  of 
lust,  that  there  may  remain  in  me  the  virtue  of  continency  and  chastity."  There  is 
also  wiiat  is  called  the  maniple,  then  tiie  vestment,  the  stole.  Witii  these  unmean- 
ing iiahilimcnts,  he  proceeds  to  the  performance  of  an  idolatrous  worship,  as  foolish, 
as  it  is  sinful. 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  203 

sels  from  the  chalice,  and  put  them  into  their  moutlis.  The  custom 
of  kneeling  at  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  Supper,  was  introduced 
cotemporaneously  with  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation ;  and  in- 
deed was  an  indispensable  form  in  the  administration  of  this  rite, 
as  expressive  of  the  adoration  paid  to  the  body  and  divinity  of 
Christ  in  the  substance  of  the  bread.  Three  of  the  evangelists 
who  have  recorded  the  events  connected  with  the  institution  of  this 
sacred  ordinance,  expressly  state,  that  "  Christ  sat  down  with  the 
twelve,"^  and  Joiin  informs  us  that  "  Jesus  rose  from  Supper." 
The  table  posture  would  seem  the  most  appropriate ;  not  only  in 
view  of  this  ordinance  bein§  a  feast  in  commemoration  of  Christ's 
death  and  sufferings,  but  as  that  in  which  it  was  administered  by 
the  great  Head  of  the  Church.  Although  the  occasion  of  its  in- 
stitution, and  the  purpose  of  a  perpetual  observance  of  its  rites, 
"  to  show  the  Lord's  death  till  he  come,"  make  it  a  religious  and  a 
solemn  ceremony,  the  natural  inclination  of  the  human  heart  to  idol- 
atrous worship,  admonishes  us  to  avoid  such  forms  in  our  observ- 
ance of  this  rite,  as  are  calculated  to  excite  feelings  of  superstitious 
reverence.  The  festival  of  the  Passover  under  the  Mosaic  dispen- 
sation was,  but  a  type  of  this.  That  was  of  the  nature  of  a  domes- 
tic feast.  It  was  also  eucharistic ;  as  the  head  of  each  family,  when 
the  paschal  lamb  was  eaten,  took  the  cup  of  thanksgiving,  and  of- 
fered to  God,  thanks  for  the  deliverance  of  his  people.  In  the  sol- 
emnization of  the  Lord's  Supper,  that  posture  cannot  be  unbecom- 
ing or  irreverent,  which  has  been  sanctioned  by  Him  whom  it  com- 
memorates; and  although  in  itself  of  little  importance,  if  it  be  one 
which  savors  of  a  worship  of  the  creature  rather  than  of  the  crea- 
tor, it  is  not  only  improper,  but  wicked  and  profane.  The  popish 
custom  of  kneeling  is  professedly  of  this  character. 

The  efforts  of  Alexander  II.  and  of  Gregory  VII.,  in  the  eleventh 
century,  to  introduce  the  Latin  tongue,  in  the  Liturgies  of  all  the 
Romish  churches,  were  unsuccessful ;  and  even  in  this  century,  it 
seems  that  the  public  service  was  not  generally  performed  in  that 
language.  In  the  twelfth  ecumenical  council  (fourth  of  Lateran,) 
which  was  convened  in  the  year  1215,  to  which  an  allusion  has  al- 
ready been  made,  it  was  decreed,  that  "Because  in  many  parts, 
within  the  same  city  and  diocese,  there  are  many  people  of  differ- 
ent manners  and  rites  mixed  together,  but  of  one  faith,  the  bishops 
of  such  cities  or  dioceses  should  provide  fit  men  for  celebrating 
divine  offices  according  to  the  diversity  of  tongues  and  rites,  and 
for  administering  the  sacraments."  It  is  uncertain  when  the  custom 
of  performing  divine  service  in  the  Latin  tongue  was  universally 
adopted.2     That  it  may  always  have  continued  in  Rome,  is  highly 

'The  posture  was  reclining ;  and  this  is  expressed  in  the  original,  .flnapiplo.  "  There 
was  leaning  on  .lesus'  bosom  one  of  his  disciples,  vvlioni  Jesus  loved."    .lolin  xiii.  23. 

*The  council  of  Trent  in  1564,  decreed,  that  "  If  any  one  shall  say  that  the  Mass 
ought  to  be  celebrated  in  the  vulgar  tongue  alone,  let  him  be  accursed.''  Pope  Alex- 
ander VII.,  in  1660,  pronounced  a  French  translation  of  the  missal,  "a  seed  plot  of 
disobedience,  rashness,  and  schism,"  the  authors,  "sons  of  perdition." 


204  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  century. 

probable.  There  the  Latin  language  must  liave  been  longer  under- 
stood by  the  people  generally,  than  in  the  provinces  of  tlie  empire 
remote  from  the  capital.  As  late  as  the  sixth  century,  Justinian  I., 
directed,  that  "  All  bishops  and  priests  shall  celebrate  the  holy  ob- 
lation, and  the  prayers  used  in  holy  baptism,  not  speaking  low,  but 
with  a  clear  and  loud  voice,  which  may  be  heard  by  the  people ; 
in  order  that  the  minds  of  the  hearers  may  be  stirred  up  with  greater 
devotion  in  uttering  the  praises  of  the  Lord  God.  For  thus  the 
holy  apostle  teaches  in  his  first  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  and  in 
his  Epistle  to  the  Romans."  ^'And  let  the  most  religious  priests 
know  this,  that  if  they  neglect  any  ff  these  things,  neither  the 
dreadful  judgment  of  the  great  God  and  our  Savior  Jesus  Christ, 
nor  will  we,  when  we  know  it,  rest  and  leave  it  unrevenged."  From 
which  decree  we  must  infer,  that  the  practice  of  mumbling  tlieir 
prayers,  in  imitation  of  the  Magian  worshippers,  had  been  ah'eady 
introduced  into  the  Church  at  Rome;  and  that  the  service  was  still 
performed  in  the  vernacular  tongue.  In  that,  and  the  following  cen- 
tury, the  Latin  was  still  spoken  even  in  France,  and  in  its  original 
purity.  In  the  eighth  century,  however,  a  provincial  dialect  began 
to  prevail,'  what  was  called  the  "  rustic  Roman"  became  the  ver- 
nacular of  Gaul.  In  a  council  at  Tours,  (on  the  Loire,  in  the  pro- 
vince of  Touraine,)  in  the  year  813,  "  The  bishops  are  ordered  to 
have  certain  homilies  of  the  fathers  translated  into  this  new  idiom, 
and  into  the  German  tongue." 

In  Italy  the  same  progressive  change  may  be  traced,  although  at 
a  later  period.  The  Latin  was  spoken,  but  somewhat  corrupted, 
as  late  as  the  ninth  century.  The  Italians,  although  less  enlightened 
than  the  French  at  this  period,  retained  their  original  language 
longer,  from  the  influence  wdiich  the  city  of  Rome  still  exerted  in 
its  preservation.  In  tlie  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire  the  Latin 
was  written  with  a  tolerable  degree  of  purity  by  the  learned.  All 
the  public  documents,  such  as  the  decrees  of  the  councils,  rescripts 
of  the  popes,  all  legal  instruments,  important  national  records,  and 
public  correspondences,  were  drawn  up  in  that  language.  It  should 
he  observed,  however,  that  comparatively  few  are  embraced  in  the 
catalogue  of  the  learned.  The  periods  referred  to,  were  the  pre- 
cursors of  a  reign  of  ignoi'ance.  With  the  tenth  century,  com- 
menced the  dark  age,  and  the  century  itself  has  been  called  the 
iron  age  of  the  Latins.  The  few  traces  of  learning  are  to  be  found 
\\ith  the  clergy  only.  In  the  tentli  century,  as  remarked  by  a  wri- 
ter of  distinction,  "  Scarcely  one  person  could  be  found  in  Rome, 
who  understood  the  elements  of  letters."  "  In  England,  not  a  priest 
south  of  the  Thames,  at  the  close  of  the  ninth  century,  understood 

'The  following  examples  of  the  rliange  in  the  ortliograpliy  of  tlic  Lnlin  will  show 
its  progressive  corruption.  Lui,  was  written  for  illius ;  Tu  lo  juva,  foi  Tu  ilium  j'lva, 
&c.     (Hallam's  Middle  Ages.) 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  Christ.  205 

the  common  prayers,  or  could  translate  the  Latin  into  his  mother 
tongue." 

Tlie  Latin  language  then,  being  understood  generally,  as  late  as 
the  eighth  century,  the  public  services  in  that  language  were  intel- 
ligible to  the  people.  From  that  period  it  became  necessary  to 
prepare  the  liturgies,  according  to  the  diversity  of  tongues  which 
prevailed  in  the  several  States,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  cliurch 
of  Rome.  In  this  century,  we  have  seen  that  the  council  of  Lateran 
issued  a  decree,  for  "  providing  fit  men  for  celebrating  divine  odices 
according  to  this  diversity  of  tongues." 

The  Church  appears  not' to  have  adopted  its  present  system  of 
excluding  the  people  from  a  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  until  the 
general  diffusion  of  spiritual  light,  with  the  revival  of  learning,  ex- 
posed tfie  corruptions,  the  vices,  the  superstitious  rites,  the  false 
doctrines,  and  the  oppressive  tyranny,  which  tor  centuries  back  had 
been  advancing  from  age  to  age,  multiplying  and   increasing  in 
strength  as  they  advanced.    With  a  growing  spirit  of  inquiry  among 
the  people,  as  the  clouds  of  ignorance  and  superstition  which  had 
obscured  the  mental  vision  were  dissipated,  the  false  pretensions 
and  the  absurdities  of  popery,  began  to  appear  in  all  their  native 
deformities.    In  the  beginning  of  this  century,  the  fearful  issue  was 
made,  between  the  Church  with  all  its  abominations,  and  the  moral 
and  intellectual  improvement  of  the  people.     In  the  progress  of 
spiritual  regeneration,  an  influence  had  risen  up  which  threatened 
the  existence  of  the  Romish  hierarchy.     The  translations  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures  communicated  to  the  laity,  a  knowledge  of  its  di- 
vine truths.    The  celebrated  Waldo,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Lyons, 
had  procured  for  his  followers,  a  copy  in  the  vernacular  of  the 
southern  jirovinces  of  France.     Another  translation  of  the  Bible, 
probably  published  in  Mentz,  was  circulated  in  Lorraine,  and  some 
of  the  adjoining  provinces  on  the  Rhine.    The  Paulicians  who  had 
migrated  from  Thrace  and  Bulgaria,  brought  with  them  the  gospels 
in  their  native  language;  which,  we  are  informed  by  ancient  and 
undoubted  testimony,  they  not  only  studied  assiduously,  but  even 
committed  to  memory.     Tlie  Vaudois  had  for  ages  back  cultivated 
an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  sacred  writings.    As  early  as  the 
eleventh  century,  the  returning  rays  of  science  began  to  be  devel- 
oped in  various  parts  of  Europe.   Intellectual  pursuits  in  the  twelfth, 
excited  tiie  enthusiasm  and  commanded  the  ardent  devotion  of  all 
classes  of  men.    This  was  the  age  of  the  revival  of  learning.    The 
famous  Pandects  of  Justinian  wei-e  discovered  in  the  ruins  of  Am- 
alphi,  and  inspired  new  zeal  in  the  study  of  the  civil  law.     The 
canon  law  was  compiled  by  Gratian.     .Jurisprudence  thus  became 
an  important  branch  in  the  academical  courses  of  the  Universities. 
Logic  and  the  higher  departments  of  philosophy  were  successfully 
taught.     Theology  presented  an  unbounded  field  for  the  exercise 
of  the  mind;  and  it  was  then  that  the  system  of  scholastic  divinity 


206  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  ceiitury. 

was  carried  to  its  highest  state  of  refinement,  and  it  may  be  added, 
of  mystification;  by  the  writings  of  Abelard,  Gilbert  de  la  Poree, 
John,  of  Salisbury,  Richard,  of  St.  Victor,  and  many  others,  who 
were  distinguished,  either  for  the  extent  of  their  learning,  or  the 
subtlety  of  their  reasoning. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  we  discover  the  first 
efforts  of  the  spirit  of  popery  to  suppress  the  progress  of  religious 
knowledge,  by  withholding  the  only  source  of  spiritual  illumination. 
In  the  year  1229,  a  council  at  Toulouse,  prohibited  the  laity  from 
the  use  of  the  Scriptures,  or  publishing  it  in  the  vulgar  tongue. 
This  prohibition  was  subsequently  repeated  by  other  councils. 
From  this  period,  we  may  with  certainty  date  the  introduction  of  a 
principle  which  has  been  universally  sustained  by  popery,  and  forms 
one  of  its  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  present  day,  the  exclusion 
of  the  laity  from  the  perusal  of  the  sacred  Scriptures. 

Why  has  the  Romish  church  thus  clothed  in  an  unknown  lan- 
guage its  Bible  and  its  liturgy,  and  denied  to  the  people  all  access 
to  the  word  of  God?  The  council  of  Trent,  in  its  canon,  "i)e 
Ubris  prohibitis,''''  has  said,  "If  the  Holy  Bible  be  permitted  to  be 
read  every  where,  without  difference,  in  tlie  vulgar  tongue,  more 
harm  than  good  results  thence,  through  the  rashness  of  men*,  let  it, 
therefore,  be  the  pleasure  of  the  bishop  or  inquisitor,  with  the  ad- 
vice of  the  parish  clerk  or  confessor,  to  grant  the  reading  of  the 
Bible,  translated  by  Catholic  (popish)  authors,  to  those  who,  in  their 
opinion,  will  thereby  receive  an  increase  of  faith  and  piety.  This 
license  let  them  have  in  writing;  and  whosoever  shall  presume, 
without  permission,  to  read  or  to  possess  such  Bibles,  may  not  re- 
ceive the  ablution  of  his  sins  (peccatorum  absolutionem)  till  he  has 
returned  them  to  the  ordinary."  This  council  convened  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  sixteenth  century.  The  principles  of  the  Reformation 
had  become  firmly  established  in  the  minds  of  the  people ;  and  all 
the  efforts  of  the  church  of  Rome,  assisted  by  the  civil  authority, 
had  failed  to  subdue  the  spirit  of  religious  freedom.  Translations 
of  the  Bible  were  multi[)licd,  and  circulated  in  the  length  and 
breadtii  of  the  land.  The  anathemas  of  the  Church,  and  the  thun- 
ders of  the  Vatican,  were  alike  disregarded  by  those  distinguished 
men  whom  God  in  his  providence  had  raised  up  in  defense  of  his 
truth.  Popery  could  no  longer  drive  back  the  tide  of  moral  regen- 
eration ;  but  all  its  energies  were  directed  to  impede  its  advance. 
It  dared  not  withhold  that  light  which  the  people  imperatively 
called  for,  but  it  could  present  it  under  false  colors,  and  still  delude 
its  hapless  votaries.  For  three  centuries,  it  had  prohibited  the 
translation  of  the  Latin  vulgate.  "  It  had  taken  away  from  them 
the  key  of  knowledge,  and  would  neither  enter  in,  nor  suffer  those 
that  would,  to  go  in."  What  then  it  could  no  longer  prohibit,  it 
endeavored  to  restrain.  It  permitted  those,  whose  ignorance  and 
superstition  still  bound  them  within  its  pale,  to  read  the  Bible  trans- 


loth  century,]  the  church  of  christ.  207 

lated  by  popish  authors,  to  whom  the  bishop  or  the  inquisitor  might 
in  his  pleasure  extend  his  license.  This  is  the  extent,  at  the  pre- 
sent day,  of  the  privilege  which  a  Romanist  enjoys  of  searching 
the  Scriptures  and  reading  the  word  of  God.  "  Let  no  one,"  said 
the  council,  "  buy  or  read  these  Bibles  without  the  permission  of 
their  pastors,  under  the  penalty  of  being  denied  an  absolution  of  his 
sins." 

Among  the  earliest  etforts  to  introduce  the  Latin  liturgy  into 
those  States,  where  it  had  long  ceased  to  be  intelligible,  was  that  by 
John  XIV.,  in  the  year  984 ;  who  confirmed  the  appointment  of 
Dithmar  to  the  see  of  Prague,  under  the  condition  that  the  public 
service  be  performed  in  that  language.  The  Bohemians,  however, 
remonstrated  against  the  innovation;  and  Gregory  V.,  assented  to  a 
repeal  of  that  condition  in  the  year  1000,  and  to  the  restoration  of 
the  Greek  rites  in  conformity  with  the  vernacular  of  that  country. 
But  the  controversy  in  the  Bohemian  churches  was  continued,  on 
this  and  on  other  subjects ;  which  created  dissensions  amongst  its 
members.  The  nobility  inclined  to  the  rites  of  the  Latin  church, 
whilst  the  common  people  ditTered  from  it,  and  refused  to  adhere  to 
its  usages  and  forms.  They  rejected  the  festivals  enjoined  by  the 
popes ;  they  formed  marriage  contracts  without  the  offices  of  the 
priests ;  they  buried  their  dead  frequently  out  of  consecrated 
ground  ;  and  the  lower  orders  of  ecclesiastics  entered  into  the  bonds 
of  wedlock.  These,  and  the  question  of  the  liturgy,  which  the 
popes  by  stratagem,  and  the  influence  of  the  nobility,  had  succeed- 
ed in  restoring  to  the  Romish  form,  agitated  the  Church  until  the 
close  of  the  eleventh  century.  Gregory  VII.,  who  was  then  in  the 
pontifical  chair,  was  appealed  to  for  a  confirmation  of  the  right 
granted  by  Gregory  V.,  to  perform  public  worship  in  the  Bohemian 
language.  The  reply  of  tliis  pontiff  gives  no  doubt  the  true  rea- 
sons for  the  introduction  into  all  the  poj)ish  churches  of  the  use  of 
the  Latin  tongue  in  their  public  services.  "  In  our  frequent  medi- 
tations upon  the  Holy  Scriptures,  we  have  discovered  that  it  has 
been,  and  still  is  pleasing  to  Almighty  God,  that  his  sacred  worship 
should  be  performed  in  an  unknown  tongue,  in  order  that  the  whole 
world,  and  especially  the  most  simple,  may  not  be  able  to  under- 
stand it.  In  truth,  if  all  chaunted  publicly  in  a  known  language,  the 
service  would  soon  excite  contempt  and  disgust.  Or  it  would  hap- 
pen that  the  common  people,  by  repeating  so  often  that  which  they 
could  not  comprehend,  would  fall  into  many  great  errors,  from 
which  it  would  be  difficult  to  withdraw  the  heart  of  man.  Nor  is 
it  proper  to  alledge  here,  that  this  indulgence  has  been  sometimes 
granted  to  the  most  ignorant,  especially,  when  they  were  recently 
converted;  as  was  done  also  in  the  primitive  church,  regard  being 
had  to  the  simplicity  and  soundness  in  the  faith  of  the  people  gen- 
erally. For  as  it  has  been  ])roven,  that  from  them  have  arisen  much 
evil  and  many  heresies ;  it  is  no  longer  advisable,  under  the  present 


208  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  ceulury, 

established  and  stable  Christian  order,  to  connive  at  it.  We  can- 
not, therefore,  comply  with  what  your  people  have  unreasonably 
demanded;  and  we  forbid  it,  by  the  authority  of  God  and  the  bless- 
ed St.  Peter,  exhorting  you  for  the  glory  of  Almighty  God,  to  re- 
sist, by  every  method  tliis  fruitless  temerity."  This  Epistle  was 
directed  to  Wratislaus,  duke  of  Bohemia;  and  taken  of  itself  shows 
to  what  a  height  of  arrogance  and  impiety  the  pontiffs  iiad  carried 
their  pretensions.  He  affirms,  "  That  it  has  been,  and  still  is  pleas- 
ing to  Almighty  God,  that  his  sacred  worship  should  be  performed 
in  an  unknown  tongue."  The  apostle  Paul,  in  his  first  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  14th  cliapter,  after  condemning  those  who  prayed 
in  a  language  unintelligible  to  the  Church,  concludes  with  this  em- 
phatic declaration,  "  1  had  rather  speak  five  words  with  my  under- 
standing, in  tiie  Church,  that  by  my  voice  I  might  teach  others  also, 
than  ten  thousand  words  in  an  unknown  tongue."  But  what  was 
the  practice  of  the  primitive  church  ! 

Origen,  of  the  third  century,  in  his  eighth  Book  against  Celsus, 
says  "  The  Greeks  pray  in  the  Greek  language,  the  Latins  in  the 
Latin;  and  thus  each  in  his  own  dialect  prays  to  God,"  &c.  Cy- 
prian, after  Origen,  remarks  "  The  priest,  having  made  a  preface 
before  prayer,  prepares  the  minds  of  tlie  brethren,  by  saying, 
'  Lift  up  your  hearts,'  and  the  people  answer,  '  We  lift  them  up 
unto  the  Lord.'"  Which  service  could  not  have  been  performed, 
had  tlie  priest  addressed  his  congregation  in  a  language  which  they 
did  not  understand.  Ambrose,  of  the  fourth  century,  in  his  com- 
ment upon  the  Epistle  of  Paul,  says  "God  knoweth  all  things;  but 
men  do  not,  and  therefore  they  derive  no  profit  from  this  unknown 
tongue."  Jerome,  who  flourished  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries, 
is  equally  explicit  in  his  remarks  on  this  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Corinthians,  "  If  any  man,"  he  says,  "  speak  in  strange  and 
unknown  tongues,  his  mind  is  made  unfruitful,  not  to  himself,  but  to 
the  heai-er ;  for  he  knows  not  what  is  spoken."  The  practice  of 
the  Romish  cliurch  from  the  sixth  to  the  present  century,  has  been 
already  stated.  John  XIV.,  at  the  close  of  the  tentli  century,  endeav- 
ored to  make  an  innovation  in  this  mode  of  public  worsliip,  but 
Gregory  V.,  about  fifteen  years  after  him,  annulled  his  decree.  Gre- 
gory VII.,  renewed  tlie  recript  of  John;  and  the  ecumenical  coun- 
cil in  this  century,  abrogated  Gregory's  act,  and  provided  for  the 
diversity  of  tongues  and  rites  in  the  several  churches,  by  ordering 
the  bishops  to  procure  fit  men  for  celebrating  the  divine  oflices,  and 
administering  tlie  sacraments  according  to  this  diversity.  The  de- 
cree of  the  council  at  Toulouse,  in  1229,  may  be  considered  as  the 
first  decisive  act  of  the  Church  to  wrest  the  Scriptures  from  the 
people.  As  late  as  the  thirteenth  century  then,  it  would  appear 
that,  no  restrictions  had  been  imposed  upon  the  laity  in  reading  the 
Scriptures,  by  the  councils  of  the  Church ;  and  tliat  no  particular 
liturgy,  and  in  the  Latin  tongue,  had  been  prescribed  to  all  the 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  209 

churches  without  regard  to  the  diversity  of  their  languages  and 
rites.  But,  it  is  admitted,  that  fronfi  the  tenth  century,  the  popes 
did  from  time  to  time,  and  on  their  own  authority,  impose  restric- 
tions upon  the  reading  and  publishing  of  the  sacred  writings;  and 
endeavored  also  to  introduce  the  Latin  service  into  the  churches. 
In  conclusion,  it  may  be  observed  that  the  council  of  Trent  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  anathematized  and  cursed  the  ecumenical  coun- 
cil of  this  century,  by  decreeing,  that  "If  any  one  shall  say  that 
the  mass  ought  to  be  celebrated  in  the  vulgar  tongue  alone,  let  him 
be  accursed:  and  this  anathema,  unfortunately  for  its  pretensions 
to  infallibility,  must  follow  the  Church  back  from  the  fourth  coun- 
cil of  Laleran,  to  the  first  successor  of  St.  Peter;  and  its  awful  and 
solemn  denunciations  will  be  heard,  in  their  distant  and  expiring 
tone,  condemning  as  a  damnable  and  lieretical  doctrine,  the  inspired 
declaration  of  the  apostle,  "  If  I  pray  in  an  unknown  tongue,  my 
spirit  prayeth,  but  my  understanding  is  unfruitful." 

The  increasing  growth  of  heiesy  a\vakened  the  most  anxious 
fears  of  the  popish  hierarchy.  In  the  southern  provinces  of  France, 
and  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont;  or  the  Albigenses  on  the  western 
side  of  the  Alps,  and  the  VValdenses  on  the  eastern,  disseminated 
their  doctrines  in  open  defiance  of  the  bishops  and  clergy  of  the 
Romish  church.  Innocent  III.,  alarmed  at  the  progress  of  gospel 
truth,  and  the  rapid  diffusion  of  spiritual  light  over  these  regions  of 
his  papal  dominion,  commissioned  flainier,  a  Cistertian  monk,  and 
Pierre  de  Castelnau,  an  arch-deacon  of  Maguelone,  to  visit  the 
southern  provinces  of  France,  and  to  inquire  into  the  progress  and 
nature  of  those  heretical  opinions;  and,  as  his  legates,  to  suppress 
their  further  growth.  This  memorable  commission  was  given  in 
the  year  1206.  The  celebrated  Dominic,  founder,  soon  after  of  the 
Order  of  the  Dominicans,  voluntarily  united  with  them  in  the  laud- 
able design  of  extirpating  heresy.  These  heresy  hunters,  or  in- 
quisitors, were  bound  by  an  oath,  "  to  seek  for  heretics,  in  towns, 
houses,  cellars,  and  other  lurking  places,  and  also  in  woods,  caves, 
fields,  &c.,"  and  most  cruelly  did  they  fulfil  the  purposes  of  their 
mission.     Such  was  the  origin  of  the  holy  inquisition. 

The  success  of  this  new  expedient  to  defend  the  faith,  encouraged 
Innocent  and  his  successors  in  the  apostolic  chair,  to  appoint  in- 
quisitors in  every  city  suspected  of  being  tainted  with  heretical  doc- 
trines. In  1229,  the  council  at  Toulouse,  which  prohibited  the 
laity  from  possessing  the  Scriptures,  and  over  whicli  the  pope^s  le- 
gate presided,  established  in  each  of  those  cities  a  council  of  in- 
quisitors, consisting  of  one  priest  and  three  laymen.  In  1233,  Gre- 
gory IX.,  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Dominican  friars,  the  entire 
control  and  management  of  the  inquisitorial  trust;  and  by  a  formal 
epistle  released  the  bishops  from  the  duties  of  that  religious  office. 
In  the  same  year,  the  system  was  organized  by  the  pope's  legate 
in  France;  who  appointed  Pierre  Cellan  and  Guillaume  Arnaud, 
14 


210  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  century. 

"  Inquisitors  of  heretical  pravity  in  Toulouse ;""  (Languedoc ;)  and 
soon  alter,  another  Board  of  Inquisitors  was  instituted  in  Carcas- 
sone,  in  the  same  province.  Before  these  courts,  all  persons  ac- 
cused of  Vauderie,  or  of  the  Waldensian  doctrines  of  witchcraft,  of 
Judaism,  &c.,  were  arraigned.  To  strengthen  the  power  of  tliese 
new  judicial  tribunals,  the  princes  of  Europe  were  induced  by  the 
pontitis  to  enact  tlie  severest  laws  against  heresy,  and  all  oftenses 
cognizable  by  those  courts;  and  at  the  same  time  to  protect  their 
ofiicers  by  strict  legislative  enactments. 

The  requirements  of  the  pontitis  were,  to  the  eternal  disgrace  of 
Frederick  II.  and  Louis  IX.,  complied  with  by  those  monarchs.  The 
most  barbarous  and  inhuman  laws  were  passed  in  their  respective 
kingdoms,  and  by  their  authority.  Sanguinary  as  were  those  en- 
actments, the  bloodhounds  of  the  inquisition,  urged  on  by  the  papal 
benedictions  and  assurances  of  salvation  for  their  pious  deeds,  en- 
forced them  under  circumstances  ot  the  most  vindictive  cruelty. 
But  it  is  not  within  my  design  to  give  a  particular  account  of  those 
instruments  of  popish  barbarity.  I  have  noticed  their  origin ;  their 
progress  and  history  may  be  traced  in  the  writings  of  Limborch, 
Frescott,  Llorente,  and  others. 

Tiie  college  of  the  Sorbonne,  was  founded  in  Paris  in  the  year 
1250.  This  institution  was  designed  for  the  study  of  divinity  ;  and 
was  richly  endowed  by  Robert  de  Sorbonne,  from  whom  it  derived 
its  title.  In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries,  whilst  the  con- 
troversies wdiich  sprang  out  of  the  Reformation  agitated  the  w  hole 
of  Europe,  this  theological  school  exercised  an  unfavoi'able  influ- 
ence against  its  progress  in  France.  The  term  Sorbonne,  became 
a  synonym  for  bigotry,  and  it  has  always  been  celebrated  for  the 
acuteness  and  subtilty  of  its  doctors  in  polemic  disputations.  The 
bigoted  attachment  of  the  faculty  of  this  college  to  the  papal  church, 
may  doubtless  be  attributed  to  the  privilege  which  was  secured  to 
the  Dominicans,  through  the  authority  of  pope  Alexander  IV.,  in 
1259,  of  having  professorships  of  their  order. 

In  the  fifth  century,  under  the  pontificate  of  Leo  I.,  or  the  Great, 
penitents  were  excused  from  an  open  confession  of  their  sins  before 
the  whole  congregation,  and  permitted  to  make  them  in  private  to 
a  priest.  This  act  was  considered  as  a  duty  which  had  been  gen- 
erally complied  with;  but  it  was  not  exacted  as  a  doctrine  of  the 
Church.  In  this  century,  Innocent  enacted,  that  auricular  confession 
to  the  priest  of  all  the  sins  and  follies  of  a  penitent  was  a  necessary 
duty,  and  that  the  absolution  given  should  be  considered  as  having 
a  sacramental  efllcacy.  The  neglect  of  this  duty  exposed  the  re- 
cusant to  an  exclusion  from  the  Church,  and  to  a  denial  of  Chris- 
tian burial.  "  Every  one  of  the  faithful,  of  both  sexes,  (says  the 
canon,)  on  coming  to  years  of  discretion,  shall,  in  private,  faithfully 
confess  all  their  sins,  at  least  once  a  year,  to  their  own  pastor;  and 
fulfill,  to  the  best  of  their  power,  the  penance  enjoined  them,  &c." 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  211 

This  is  considered  by  the  Romish  church,  as  part  of  the  sacrament 
of  penance;  and  has  had  a  most  coirupling  influence  on  the  morals 
of  i)0lh  the  clerj^y  and  the  people. 

Nolvvillistaiiding-  the  boasted  antiquity  of  the  rites  and  doctrines 
of  the  Romish  church,  which  the  papists  have  advanced  as  the  evi- 
dence of  its  beini^  the  only  true  Church,  and  upon  this  pretension 
have  claimed  for  it  the  character  of  infallibility ;  we  have  seen  that 
neither  of  these,  as  they  exist  at  the  present  day,  received  any  thing 
of  a  settled  form,  but  m  the  slow  progress  of  time.  Some  of  them, 
which  have  ah-eady  been  referred  to,  date  from  the  filtcenth  cen- 
tury. Its  government  has  been  alike  progressive.  The  whole  struc- 
ture of  its  institutions,  the  design  and  workmanship  of  human  skill, 
must  of  necessity  have  heen  the  result  of  a  process  of  aggregation. 
Like  its  own  temple  of  St.  Peter,  it  has  been  reared  by  the  trea- , 
sures  and  the  blood  of  its  votaries.  The  powers  and  prerogatives 
of  the  pontiffs  were  increased  by  successive  aggressions  on  the 
rights  of  others.  The  maxim,  that  power  gives  right,  has  furnished 
a  ruling  principle  by  which  tliey  were  universally  governed;  from 
the  institution  of  diocesan  episcopacy  in  the  second  century,  when 
the  bishops  declared  in  the  ecclesiastical  council,  "•  that  they  were 
no  more  than  the  delegates  of  their  respective  churches,  and  that 
they  acted  in  the  name,  and  by  the  appointment  of  the  people,"  to 
the  year  1300,  "  wdien  Boniface  VIIl.,  appeared  at  the  jubilee 
dressed  in  imperial  habits,  with  the  two  swords  borne  before  him, 
emblems  of  his  temporal  as  well  as  spiritual  dominion  over  the 
earth.'"' 

The  highest  aspirations  of  the  popes,  we  might  suppose  had  been 
now  attained.  The  superiority  of  the  ecclesiastical  over  the  tem- 
poral power  seems  to  have  been  finally  established.  The  liberality 
of  the  princes  had  from  time  to  time  augmented  their  wealth;  and 
their  own  rapacity  had  enriched  their  treasures.  New  claims  to 
cities  and  territories  were  continually  advanced,  founded  on  forged 
documents,  purporting  to  be  concessions  by  preceding  emperors  and 
kings.  Of'  this  character  was  (he  fictitious  grant  which  was  pre- 
sented to  Charlemagne,  in  the  eighth  century,  by  Adrian  I.,  of  the 
city  of  Rome  and  its  adjoining  territories  by  the  emperor  Constan- 
tine  to  Ihe  Church.  VVfien  the  pontiffs  had  acquired  an  entire  con- 
trol over  the  temporal  as  well  as  the  spiritual  affairs  of  Europe,  the 
necessity  of  advancing  iheir  interests,  under  a  pretext  of  right,  ceased. 
Two  principles  had  been  early  ado[)ted  as  axioms  whose  truth 
could  not  be  questioned;  one  was,  that  "It  is  not  only  lawful,  but 

'  "  The  pope  is  universal  judge,  king  of  kings  and  lord  of  lords;  because  his  power 
ip  of  God.  God's  trilinnal  and  the  pope's  are  llio  same,  and  they  have  the  same  con- 
sistory. All  other  powers  are  his  subjects.  The  pope  is  jiidiied  of  none  but  God." 
Moscovius,  do  Miijesl.  Kccles.  Militant.  Lib.  1st,  ciiap.  7,  p    -6. 

"  VVc  declare  every  liunian  creature  to  be  siibjcci  to  the  Roman  pontiff,  as  an  ar- 
ticle of  necessary  faith."  See  Constitution  of  JJoniface  VIII.,  styled  "  Unum  Sane- 
tarn." 


212  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13lh  cenlurv. 

even  praiseworthy  to  deceive,  and  even  to  use  the  expedient  of  a 
lie,  in  Older  to  advance  the  cause  of  truth  and  piety.""  This  was 
one  of  the  contributions  of  the  Hylliagorean  philosopliy  to  the 
Christian  Church  in  its  incipient  state  of  coiruption  ;  the  oilier  was, 
that  "  An  oath  disadvantageous  to  the  Churcli  is  not  binding."  Both 
of  these  are  embodied  in  the  canon  law.  The  latter  is  expressed 
in  the  decretals  of  Innocent  ill.'  This  pontitf,  in  the  plenitude  of 
his  power,  laid  aside  these  nupediments  to  temporal  acquisitions, 
and  se-ized  with  a  tenacious  grasp  whatever  hecame  the  objects  of 
his  avarice.  He  took  forcible  possession  of  the  province  of  An- 
cona  on  the  Adriatic,  of  the  dutchy  of  Spoietto,  and  many  cities 
and  fortresses,  as  having  been  unjustly  and  impiously  separated  iiom 
the  patrimony  of  St.  i  eter;  and  these  have  ever  since  remained 
under  the  ecclesiastical  dominion.  Nicholas  III.,  compelled  the 
emperor  Rodolphus  I.,  to  concede  to  the  see  of  Rome  vvliatever 
claims  might  he  advanced  by  it,  as  a  condition  of  his  coronation. 
By  virtue  of  this  concession,  the  empire  was  at  once  divested  of" 
many  of  its  territories  and  cities,  which  were  formally  annexed  to 
the  States  of  the  Church. 

But  these  acquisitions  did  not  satisfy  the  insatiable  avarice  of  the 
ghostly  fathers.  Saturn-like  they  devoured  their  own  children. 
"  The  pontiffs,"  says  Mosheim,  "  who  formerly  disputed  with  such 
ardor,  against  the  emperors  in  favor  of  the  free  election  of  bishop^s 
and  abiiots,  now  overturned  all  the  laws  that  related  to  the  elec- 
tion of  these  spiritual  rulers,  reserving  for  themselves  the  revenues 
of  the  richest  benefices,  conferring  vacant  places  upon  their  clients 
and  their  creatures,  nay,  often  deposing  bishops  that  had  been  duly 
and  lawfully  elected,  and  substituting,  with  a  high  hand,  others  in 
their  room." 

This  act  of  aggression  only  sharpened  their  appetites  for  plun- 
der. The  taxation  of  the  clergy,  was  first  attempted  by  Innocent 
for  the  avowed  purpose  of  a  crusade  against  Constantinople,  and 
afterward  by  Gregory  IX.  to  protect  the  possessions  of  the  see 
against  Frederick.  These  formed  precedents,  which  soon  ripened 
into  law;  and  notwithstanding  the  remonstiances  of  the  bishops, 
the  pontiffs  persisted  in  f>  system  of  the  most  rapacious  exactions. 
Before  this  innovation,  the  clergy,  their  persons  as  well  as  their 
property,  had  been  exempt  from  all  taxation ;  fiom  the  su[)posed 
sacredness  of  their  character,  and  a  superstitious  fear  of  commit- 
ting sacrilege  by  demanding  from  the  ecclesiastical  order,  pecuniary 
contributions  for  temporal  purposes.  The  bishops  did  not  hesitate 
to  reproach  the  pontiffs  witlv  venality  and  avarice,  hut  this  sacer- 
dotal contest  terminated  in  their  defeat.  "  The  church  is  one  body," 
said  Boniface,  "  and  has  one  head.  Under  its  command  are  two 
swords,  the  one  temporal,  and  the  other  spiritual." 

'  "  Jiir.Trncrituin  contra  ulilitatem  ecclesiasticam  prBesliliim  iion  tenet."  This  has 
been  applied  to  the  conduct  of  the  Church  witli  regiird  to  lieretics. 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  213 

The  institution  of  a  new  rite  points  out  another  innovation  in  the 
Church,  at  the  close  of  this  centuiy.  The  jubilee,  in  imitation  of 
the  Ludi  saeculares^  was  (irst  celebrated,  under  an  epistolary  man- 
date by  Boiiilace,  in  1299.  The  celebration  commenced  in  the  be- 
ginning- of  the  year  1300.  During  the  secular  games  of  the  pagan 
Romans,  sacrihces  were  offered  as  well  to  the  infermd  as  the  celes- 
tial gods.  Religious  solemnities  were  observed,  which  were  fol- 
lowed by  various  exhibitions,  to  amuse  the  populace.  Preparatory 
to  the  celebration  of  this  festival,  the  Sibylline  books  were  consult- 
ed, and  certam  expiatory  rites  were  observed.  But  in  the  pom- 
pous display  of  wealth,  in  the  licentiousness  and  debaucheries 
which  prevailed  in  the  city,  and  in  the  disorder  and  the  crimes 
which  attended  the  Christian  jubilees,  papal  Rome  far  surpassed 
the  iMetntpolis  of  the  ancient  Roman  empire.  Plenary  indulgences 
were  promised  to  all  pilgrims  who  would,  in  the  course  of  the  year, 
visit  the  churches  of  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul.  "  The  pope,"  says  a 
writer,'  "  received  from  these,  immense  sums  of  money  ;  lor  in  the 
night  as  well  as  in  the  day,  two  priests  stood  at  the  altar  of  St. 
Paul,  holding  I'akes  in  their  hands,  raking  in  an  incalculable  amount." 
(Injlnitam  et  iiinumerabilem  pecwiiam.)  This  was  intended  as  a 
centenary  festival ;  but  as  it  proved  a  source  of  immense  wealth 
to  the  popes,  the  periods  were  subsequently  shortened  to  twenty- 
five  years. 

Whilst  we  are  thus  taking  a  superficial  survey  of  the  power, 
wealth,  and  grandeur  of  the  Romish  hieiarchy,  we  must  not  over- 
look tiie  cheering  fact,  that  in  the  bosom  of  the  Cliuich,  the  seeds 
of  contention  were  germinnling.  It  is  a  remarkable  circumstance, 
and  shows  the  merciful  providence  of  God,  that  at  the  period  when 
we  may  date  the  mei'ulian  glory  of  tliis  colossal  power,  we  perceive 
the  incipient  operation  of  those  principles  which  weakened  its  ener- 
gies, and  prepared  the  minds  of  the  people  for  the  consummation 
of  that  great  Reformation,  which  had  been  slowly  advancing  since 
the  middle  of  the  third  century. 

In  the  contests  between  the  pontiffs  and  the  bishops,  on  tlie  free- 
dom of  election  to  vacant  sees,  and  the  right  of  collation,  or  pre- 
sentation to  ecclesiastical  benefices,  the  abuses  of  the  Church  (of 
which  the  highest  order  of  the  clergy  were  now  made  sensible,) 
were  freely  canvassed,  and  angrily  protested  against.  The  con- 
troversy which  commenced  with  the  bishops,  whose  ecclesiastical 
prerojjatives  and  pecuniary  emoluments  wei'e  thus  unexpectedly  in- 
vaded, was  extended  to  the  princes  ;  and  the  peo|de  themselves  be- 
came disaffected  tou-ardsa  spiritual  authority  which  they  had  look- 
ed up  to,  with  superstitious  veneration  and  awe. 

Tlic  l)lshop  of  I^incoln,  Robert  Gi-osst(;te,  took  a  distinguished 
part  in  this  controversy  ;  and  resisted  the  usurpation  of  the  popes 

'llallam's  Middle  Asrcs. 


214  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST,  [loth  ccntury. 

with  so  much  zeal  and  firmness  of  spirit,  that  he  has  been  enrolled 
by  some  writers  as  one  of  the  precursors  of  the  Reformation. — 
Louis  IX.  of  France,  although  a  bigot  to  the  Romish  superstitions, 
and  a  servile  insti'ument  of  the  pope,  was  at  length  aroused  by  the 
increasing  danger  of  the  papal  encroachments,  and  by  an  edict, 
protected  the  Gallican  church  in  its  ancient  and  acknowledged 
rights.  "  The  itinerant  minstrels  invented  tales  to  satirize  vicious 
priests,  which  a  predisposed  multitude  eagerly  swallowed." 

But  another  influence  sprung  up  in  tlie  two  religious  orders 
which  were  considered  the  firmest  pillars  of  popery.  'I'he  dissen- 
sions between  the  Franciscans  and  the  Dominicans,  distracted  the 
councils  of  the  church,  weakened  in  the  minds  of  the  people  their 
habitual  prejudices  in  its  favor,  and  produced  a  general  impression 
that  a  renovation  of  its  entire  structure  had  become  necessary. 
These  orders  were  not  only  in  a  state  of  avowed  enmity  towards 
each  other ;  but  differences  arose  among  themselves,  in  their  re- 
spective fraternities,  and  each  order  was  divided  into  distinct  and 
separate  branches.  "  Whoever,"  says  Mosheim,  "considers  with 
attention  the  series  of  events  that  happened  in  the  Latin  church, 
from  this  remarkable  period,  will  be  fully  convinced  that  the  men- 
dicant orders,  whether  through  im[)rudence  or  design,  we  shall  not 
determine,  gave  several  mortal  blows  to  the  authority  of  the  church 
of  Rome,  and  excited  in  the  minds  of  the  people,  those  ardent  de- 
sires of  a  reformation  in  the  church,  which  pioduced,  in  after  times, 
such  substantial  and  such  glorious  effects." 

The  several  monastic  orders  which  existed  in  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  particularly  the  society  of  Benedictines,  had  sunk  into 
the  lowest  state  of  depravity  and  vice.  Withdrawn  from  the  con- 
trol of  the  bishops,  who  were  however  generally  not  less  tempor- 
al minded  and  sensual,  than  the  monks  themselves;  they  gave  a 
loose  rein  to  the  indulgence  of  every  base  appetite.  Those  insti- 
tutions had  long  lost  their  religious  character,  and  with  it,  that  in- 
fluence which  they  had  formerly  exercised  over  the  superstitious 
feelings  of  the  multitude.  The  contrast  between  the  strict  virtues 
and  pious  deportment  of  the  dissenters  from  the  Church,  or  the 
heretics,  as  they  were  reproachfully  called,  and  the  vices  of  the 
Romish  clergy,  was  apparent  to  all.  The  unreasonable  pretensions 
and  profligacy  of  the  pontiffs  had  called  forth  the  severe  animad- 
versions of  the  whole  Christian  world.  It  was  manifest  that  the 
affairs  of  the  Church  had  arrived  at  a  crisis.  To  maintain  its  con- 
trol over  the  public  mind,  now  becoming  enlightened  by  the  gener- 
al diffusion  of  knowledge,  a  change  in  the  immoralities  of  tlie  ec- 
clesiastics was  imperatively  demanded.  It  was  with  this  view  that 
the  Dominican  and  Franciscan  orders  were  instituted.  To  the  sa- 
gacity of  Innocent  III.  must  be  imputed  the  first  suggestion  of  such 
organizations.  By  their  strict  discipline,  and  rcMunciiiilon  of  all 
worldly  possessions,  they  were  designed  to  rescue  the  moral  char- 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  215 

acter  of  the  Chuicli  from  public  opprobrium.  AlV  traits  of  its  re- 
lii^ious  character  had  long  before  been  obhterated.  The  pontilfs, 
therefore,  of  this  century,  as  safeguards  to  the  papal  throne,  re- 
modeled the  monasiic  orders;  diminishing  their  number,  and  ex- 
teiiding  their  pationage  to  such  as  they  deemed  best  calculated  to 
accomplish  the  desired  end.  The  Dominicans,  the  Franciscans,  the 
Carmelites,  and  the  Hermits  of  St.  Augustine,  were  favored  with 
peculiar  distinctions  and  exclusive  privileges.  The  pontilfs  encour- 
aged the  belief  of  their  extraordinary  sanctity.  Their  intluence 
became  paramount;  and  even  in  the  administration  of  the  rites  of 
the  Church,  the  ordinary  priests  found  their  customary  vocations 
intruded  upon  by  those  sanctimonious  mendicants.  But  these  des- 
perate eiforts  to  strengthen  the  throne  were  not  attended  with  the 
ha[)py  results  anticipated.  God  had  said,  "  I  will  do  judgment 
upon  the  graven  images  of  Babylon ;  and  her  whole  land  shall  be 
confounded,  for  she  hath  caused  the  slain  of  Israel  to  fall." 

The  papal  machinery  was  ingeniously  contrived  and  artfully  con- 
structed ;  but  the  arm  which  had  raised  it  up,  was  unable  to  direct 
and  govern  its  movements.  A  contest  soon  arose  between  the  Do- 
minicans and  Franciscans  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  doctors  of  the 
Sorbonne  on  the  other.  The  order  of  Alexander  IV.  to  confer  on 
the  Dominicans  as  many  professorships  in  the  academy,  as  they  de- 
manded, and  to  concede  to  the  Franciscans  also,  certain  academi- 
cal rights  which  they  had  claimed  in  that  theological  institution,  ex- 
cited to  the  highest  degree,  the  doctors  of  the  Sorbonne.  St. 
Amour,  one  of  their  most  learned  divines,  attacked  the  Dominicans 
with  unsparing  severity.  In  his  "  Perils  of  the  latter  times,"  "  he 
maintained  publicly,  that  their  discipline  was  in  direct  opposition 
to  the  precepts  of  the  gospel ;  and  that  in  confirming  it,  the  popes 
had  been  guilty  of  temerity,  and  the  Church  had  become  chargea- 
ble with  error."  He  applied  to  the  four  mendicant  orders,  the 
prophecy  of  Paul  in  his  second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  "  that  in  the 
last  days  perilous  times  shall  come,"  &c.  &c. 

But  the  evil  did  not  stop  here.  Dissensions  arose  among  the 
Franciscans  themselves.  Joachim,  abbot  of  Flora,  in  Calabria, 
had  published  a  work  entitled,  "  The  Everlasting  Gospel."  In 
this,  "he  foretold  the  destruction  of  the  church  of  Rome,  whose 
corruptions  he  censured  with  the  greatest  severity ;  and  the  pro- 
mulgation of  a  new  and  more  perfect  gospel  in  the  age  of  the  Ho- 
ly Ghost,  by  a  set  of  poor  and  austere  ministers,  whom  God  would 
raise  up  and  employ  for  that  purpose."'  The  Spirituals,  as  tlie 
austere  Franciscans  were  called,  to  distinguish  them  from  those  of 
that  order  who  were  sensually  dis[)Osed,  believed  that  they  were 
the  instruments  of  Divine  Providence  for  the  fulfillment  of  this  pro- 

'Mosheim''s  Ecclesiastical  History. 


216  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  centuiy. 

phecy.     This  division  in  tfie  fraternity  occasioned  a  serious  injury 
to  the  Romish  cliurch. 

Accompanying  these  movements  was  the  attack  of  Jean  Pierre 
d'Olive,  the  leader  of  the  Spirituals,  on  the  corruptions  of  the  pa- 
pal church;  maintaining-,  that  it  is  represented  in  the  Apocalypse 
by  "tlie  whore  of  Babylon,  the  mother  of  harlots,  silting  upon  a 
scarlet  colored  beast,  full  of  names  of  blasphemy,  having  seven 
heads  and  ten  horns."  In  this  century  appeared  the  works  of  the 
poet  Dante. 1  As  an  evidence  of  the  general  impression  which 
seems  at  this  time  to  have  prevailed,  with  respect  to  the  true  char- 
acter of  that  church,  we  find  in  his  poem  the  same  delineation  giv- 
en to  it.  In  his  19lh  canto,  of  his  vision  in  hell,  he  addresses  him- 
self to  Pope  Nicholas  III.  whom  he  meets  with  in  the  third  gulf, 
in  the  following  words : 

"  Of  shepherds  hke  to  you,  th'  Evangelist 
Was  ware,  when  lier,  who  sits  upon  the  waves, 
With  iiings  in  filthy  whoredom  he  beheld; 
Slie  vvlio  wilii  seven  heads  tower'd  at  her  birth, 
And  from  ten  horns  her  proof  of  glory  drew, 
Long  as  hei  spon  e  in  virtue  took  dehght, 
Of  gold  and  silver  ye  have  made  your  god, 
Ditf'riiig  wherein  from  the  idolater. 
But  that  he  worships  one — a  liundred  ye." 

The  Fratricelli,  otherwise  called,  Beguards^  or  Fratres  JMinores'^ 
were  a  branch  of  the  Spirituals,  and  like  the  others  alledged  open 
charges  agamst  the  popes  and  bishops,  of  immoralities  and  vices; 
and  predicted  that  a  reformation  of  religion  would  be  brought  about 
by  the  true  followers  of  St.  Francis.  They  revered  the  memory 
of  Celestine  V.,  but  refused  to  acknowledge  Boniface  VIII.  and  his 
successors,  as  the  legitimate  heads  of  the  Church. 

Thus  were  the  religious  orders,  which  tlic  popes  had  flattered 
themselves,  would  be  the  strong  pillars  of  popery,  made  instru- 
ments, by  the  providence  of  God,  of  those  reforms  which  they 
were  the  most  solicitous  to  avert.  We  will  now  resume  the  histoiy 
of  the  Reformation. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

The  church  established  by  Columba,  in  the  sixth  century,  among 
the  Picts  in  Scotland,  preserved  its  distinctive  char;icter  until  the 
close  of  the  eleventh  century.  In  the  reign  of  Malcolm  HI.,  sur- 
named  Canmore,  from  the  largeness  of  his  head,  the  Culdees  were 
either  persuaded  or  compelled  to  adopt  many  of  the  superstitious 
rites  of  the  Romish  church.  This  change  was  effected  through 
the  influence  of  the  queen,  Margaret,  an  Anglo  Saxon  princess. 

'Age  of  Danto,  from  1265  to  1321. 

"Tlie  term  Fratricolli,  having  become  odious  to  tlie  papists  by  llie  reproach  c&sl 
upon  the  Churcb  by  this  branch  of  I  he  Francisciins,  was  indiscriminately  applied  to 
tlie  VValdenses,  and  to  all  who  reviled  the  Church  on  account  of  its  vice^- 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  217 

Educated  on  the  continent,  and  accustomed  to  the  pomp  and  gor- 
geous ceremonies  of  the  papal  worship,  the  simple  forms  of  the 
Culdees  were  offensive  to  her  retined  ideas ;  and  her  zealous  labors 
were  directed  to  the  extirpation  of  what  seemed  to  iier  the  last 
traces  of  a  barbarous  age.  Her  etforts  were  accompanied  with 
success;  and  her  name  has  been  enrolled  in  the  catalogue  of  saints. 
Many  of  the  Culdee  churches,  however,  retained  their  ancient 
forms,  and  it  was  not  until  the  beginning  of  this  century,  that  the 
last  traces  of  them  are  to  be  discerned.  Some  writers,  indeed,  be- 
lieve that  vestiges  of  the  ancient  religious  institutions  of  Columba, 
were  unoblileraled  as  late  as  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury. The  pure  religion  of  the  gospel  was  preserved  in  the  moun- 
tains of  the  Alps;  and  there  are  evidences  of  its  preservation 
among  the  Picts,  at  a  period  when  an  idolatrous  worship  prevailed 
in  all  the  states  and  provmces  of  Europe  and  Asia,  which  had  been 
brought  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Latin  and  Greek  churches. 

"  VVhen  the  papists  ask  us,"  says  a  distinguished  writer,'  '■'■  where 
our  religion  was  before  Luther.-'  we  may  answer.  In  the  Bible;  and 
we  answer  well.  But  to  gratify  their  taste  for  tradition  and  human 
authority,  we  may  add.  In  the  valleys  of  Piedmont  and  on  the 
mountains  of  Scotland." 

It  has  been  mentioned  that  the  Piedmont  is  now  the  principal 
province  of  the  continental  states  of  the  king  of  Sardinia  ;  and  that 
it  was  formerly  under  the  government  of  tlie  dukes  of  Savoy.  Af- 
ter the  extinction  of  the  kingdom  of  Burgundy,  in  the  year  561, 
Savoy,  which  had  been  one  of  its  provinces,  was  transferred  to  the 
government  of  France,  and  was  an  appendage  to  that  kingdom  un- 
til 888;  when  it  was  annexed  to  what  was  called  Transjurane  Bur- 
gundy, which  in  the  year  933,  was  blended  with  the  kingdom  of 
Arclat,  or  Arcles.  By  the  annexation  of  Arcles  afterward,  to  Ger- 
many, Savoy  became  a  province  of  the  German  empire,  and  its 
different  parts  were  governed  by  counts  appointed  by  the  emper- 
ors. The  earldom,  however,  became  hereditary  in  the  beginning 
of  the  eleventh  century.  Piedmont  constituted  a  part  of  its  do- 
mains. After  the  death  of  Bonifacius  Roland,  the  ninth  hereditary 
count  of  Savoy,  in  1263;  his  uncle,  Philip,  arch-bishop  of  Lyons, 
succeeded  to  the  earldom,  in  prejudice  of  the  children  of  his  elder 
brother,  Thomas.  Piedmont  became  then,  a  distinct  principality, 
under  the  government  of  the  descendants  of  Thomas,  who  received 
the  title  of^  princes  or  counts.  When  in  1418  this  branch  of  the 
house  of  Savoy,  became  extinct  by  the  death  of  Lewis,  it  was 
again  annexed  to  Savoy  in  the  person  of  Amadicus  VIII.,  who  had 
been  elevated  the  preceding  year  to  the  rank  of  duke,  by  the  em- 
peror Sigismund.  Amadaius  was  elected  pope  in  1440,  by  the 
council  of  Basil,  and  assumed  the  name  of  Felix  V.     In  conse- 

'Mr.  Gavin's  Protestant. 


218  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [1 3th  century. 

quence  of  the  dissensions  which  then  prevailed  in  the  Church,  on 
tlie  question  of  the  succession  to  tl>e  papal  chair,  he  relinquished 
his  claim  in  1449.  After  his  death,  in  the  year  1451,  his  son  Louis,^ 
succeeded  to  the  duchy  of  Savoy.  It  may  be  here  mentioned,  that 
the  eldest  son  of  tlie  reig-niiig  duke  was  distinguished  by  the  title 
of  "  Prince  of  Piedmont."  In  1535,  the  reigning  dulvc,  Charles 
III.,  surnamed  the  Good,'  was  dispossessed  of  nearly  all  of  his  do- 
minions by  Francis  I.,  kiiig  of  France,  his  nephew;  but  on  the  ac- 
cession of  his  son  Esnanuel  Philibert,  who  married  Margaret,  the 
daughter  of  Francis,  the  integrity  of  the  duchy  was  restored. 

Languedoc,  in  the  beginning  of  this  century  was  under  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  counts  or  earls  of  Toulouse,  but  was  annexed  to 
France  in  1229.  Provence  was  annexed  in  1272;  and  Dauphine 
in  the  year  1349. 

With  these  historical  facts  in  view,  many  of  which  have  been 
mentioned  in  anticipation  of  their  proper  dates,  the  narration  of  the 
events  in  the  progress  of  the  Reformation  of  this,  and  the  succeed- 
ing century  will  be  better  understood. 

Philip  II.,  surnamed  Augustus,  was  the  reigning  sovereign  of 
France,  in  the  beginning  of  this  century.  Frederick  II.  occupied 
the  imperial  throne,  and  Innocent  III.  was  the  reigning  pontilf. 

"In  the  year  1163,  during  the  pontificate  of  Alexander  III.,  at 
the  Synod  of  Tours,  all  the  bishops  and  priests  in  the  country  of 
Toulouse,  (Languedoc,)  were  commanded  to  take  care,  and  to  for- 
bid, under  the  pain  of  excommunication,  every  person  from  pre- 
suming to  give  reception,  or  the  least  assistance  to  the  followers  of 
this  heresy,  (of  the  Waldenses  and  Albigenses,)  neither  were  they 
to  have  any  dealings  with  them  in  buying  or  selling.  Whoever 
shall  dare  to  contravene  this  order,  let  him  be  excommunicated. — 
As  many  of  them  as  can  be  founrl,  let  them  be  imprisoned  by  the 
(papal)  princes,  and  punished  with  the  forfeiture  of  all  iheir  sub- 
stance." Lucius  III  ,  the  successor  of  Alexander,  in  the  year  1  181, 
issued  a  decree  "  breathing  out  threatnings  and  slaughter  against 
the  disciples  of  the  Lord."  Its  language  was,  "  To  abolish  the 
malignity  of  diverse  heresies,  which  are  lately  sprung  up  in  most 
parts  of  the  world,  it  is  hut  fitting  that  the  power  committed  to  the 
Church  should  be  awakened,  that,  by  tiie  concurring  assistance  of 
the  imperial  streiigth,  both  tlie  insolence  and  the  malpertness  of  the 
berclics,  in  their  false  designs,  may  be  crushed,  and  the  truth  of 
Catholic  simplicity  shining  forth  in  the  holy  Church,  may  demon- 
strate her,  pure  and  free  from  the  execrableness  of  their  false  doc- 
trines." The  decree  denounces  all  those  dissenting  from  the  Ro- 
mish church,  and  declares  them  to  be  under  a  perpetual  anathema. 
A  curse  which  has  never  been  withdrawn;  which  now  hangs  over 

'Tim  famous  "  Louisa  of  Savoy,"  who  made  fo  ronspicnoiis  a  fig'iire  in  tlic  French 
court,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  wiis  the  sister  of  ('l)arles,  and  the  mother  of  Francis, 
and  Margaret  who  embraced  the  principles  of  tlic  Reformation. 


13th  century.]  the  church  op  christ.  219 

every  Protestant;  and  only  suspended,  from  the  want  of  power  to 
enforce  it  by  the  gibbet  and  the  flames.  It  then  proceeds,  "  If  any 
layman  shall  be  found  guilty,  either  publicly  or  privately,  of  any  of 
the  aforesaid  crimes,  (tliat  is,  preaching  or  speaking  improperly  of 
the  sacraments,)  unless  by  abjuring  his  heresy,  and  makmg  satisfac- 
tion, he  immediately  return  to  the  orthodox  faith,  we  decree  him  to 
be  left  to  the  sentence  of  the  secular  judge,  to  receive  condign  pun- 
ishment, according  to  the  quality  of  the  offense."  In  the  pontifi- 
cate of  Celestine  III.,  Ildefonsus,  king  of  Arragon,  at  the  instiga- 
tion of  [lis  ghostly  father,  ordained,  that  "All  heretics,"  found  in 
his  dominions,  ''be  condemned  and  persecuted  every  where;  and 
all  persons  present  at  their  pernicious  sermons,  be  punished,  as  if 
they  were  actually  guilty  of  higii  treason."  Thus  vvere  the  popes 
successively  urging  upon  the  princes  of  Europe  to  exterminate  with 
fire  and  sword,  their  quiet  and  peaceful  subjects,  whose  only  of- 
fense was,  that  they  worshipped  God  agreeably  to  the  dictates  of 
their  consciences,  and  refused  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of 
the  Romish  hierachy.  The  cruelties  inflicted  upon  those  innocent 
and  inoffensive  sectaries  in  the  twelfth  century,  were  but  the  begin- 
nings of  sorrows.  Truly  was  fulfilled  in  them  the  prediction  of  our 
Savior,  that  his  disciples  should  be  delivered  up  to  councils;  that 
they  shall  be  brought  before  rulers  and  kings  for  his  sake,  and  shall 
be  hated  of  all  men  for  his  name's  sake. 

Innocent  III.  having  in  1206,  commissioned  Rainier  and  Castel- 
nau  to  visit  the  southern  provinces  of  France,  with  full  powers  to 
inquire  into,  and  to  suppress  all  heresies  which  might  be  discover- 
ed, in  the  following  year  called  upon  the  princes  of  Europe  to  as- 
sist in  the  extermination  of  these  recusant  and  contumacious  secta- 
ries. '"Tis  the  command  of  God,"  said  his  holiness,  "If  thou 
shalt  hear  say  in  any  one  of  thy  cities,  which  the  Lord  thy  God  hath 
given  thee  to  dwell  there,  saying.  Let  us  go  and  serve  other  gods, 
which  ye  have  not  known,  thou  shalt  smite  the  inhabitants  of  that 
city  with  the  edge  of  the  sword." 

Caslelnau,  in  the  execution  of  his  inquisitorial  powers,  had  in- 
flicted upon  those  suspected  or  accused  of  heresy,  the  most  barba- 
rous cruelties.  So  great  was  the  popular  indignation,  that  he,  with 
his  assistant  inquisitor,  were  massacred  by  an  incensed  populace  in 
Languedoc,  This  occurrence  excited  the  highest  indignation  of 
Innocent.  Raymond  VI.,  earl  of  Toulouse,  within  whose  territo- 
ries (he  legate  had  been  killed,  was  excommunicated  with  the  most 
denunciatory  anathemas.  Raymond  had  incurred  the  vengeance  of 
his  ghostly  father,  by  refusing  to  persecute  the  hercti(;s  within  his 
dominions,  and  had  even  dared  to  extend  to  them,  his  protection. 
"  If  we  could  open  your  heart,"  said  Innocent,  in  a  let'er  address- 
ed him,  "  we  should  find,  and  would  point  out  to  you,  the  detesta- 
ble abominations  tliat  you  have  committed  ;  but  as  it  is  harder  than 
the  rock,  it  is  in  vain  to  strike  it  with  the  words  of  salvation ;  we 


220  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13tl)  ccntuiy. 

cannot  penetrate  it  Pestilential  man !  what  pride  has  seized  your 
heart,  and  what  is  your  folly,  to  refuse  peace  with  your  neighbors, 
and  to  brave  the  divine  laws,  by  protecting  the  enemies  of  the 
faith?  If  you  do  not  fear  eternal  flames,  ought  you  nol  to  dread 
the  temporal  chastisements  which  you  have  merited  by  so  many 
crimes  ?" 

The  territories  of  Raymond  were  put  under  an  interdict ;  and 
the  whole  of  Christendom  was  called  on  to  avenge  the  cause  of 
Christ  and  his  Church.  The  princes  and  nobles  were  invited  to 
engage  in  this  holy  war  against  the  enemies  of  the  cross.  Abbots 
and  priests  traversed  the  whole  of  Europe,  preaciiing  a  crusade 
against  the  Albigcnses.  Paradise  and  a  plenary  indulgence  \vere 
liberally  offered  to  all  who  would  enlist  under  the  banner  of  the 
cross,  and  serve  forty  days  in  the  work  of  extermination.  After 
declaring  that  faith  must  not  be  kept  with  those  who  do  not  keep 
faith  with  God.  Innocent  thus  addressed  the  princes :  "  We  ex- 
hort you,  tliat  you  would  endeavor  to  destroy  the  wicked  heresy 
of  the  Aibigenses,  and  do  this  with  more  rigor  than  you  would  to- 
wards the  Saracens  themselves;  persecute  them  with  a  stiong 
hand  ;  deprive  them  of  their  lands  and  possessions;  banish  them, 
and  put  Catholics  in  their  room."  The  utmost  extent  of  indul- 
gence was  therefore,  promised  to  the  crusaders,  which  had  ever 
been  extended  to  those  who  had  fought  for  the  deliverance  of  the 
Holy  Land. 

The  king  of  France  zealously  engaged  in  the  expedition,  but  ap- 
prehensive that  his  own  kingdom  might  be  invaded  by  the  English 
during  his  absence  from  his  capital,  the  pope,  to  avert  this  danger, 
and  to  quiet  liis  apprehension,  addressed  a  letter  to  the  English 
monarch  in  the  following  language:  "Make  no  war,  either  by 
yourself,  or  your  brother,  or  any  other  person,  on  the  said  Icing, 
(of  France)  so  long  as  he  is  engaged  in  the  affiiir  of  the  faith  and 
service  of  Jesus  Christ,  lest  by  your  obstructing  the  matter,  which 
God  forbid  you  should  do,  the  king,  with  his  prelates  and  barons 
of  France,  should  be  forced  to  turn  their  arms,  from  the  extirpa- 
tion of  heretics,  to  their  own  defense." 

"  Who  will  rise  up  for  me  against  the  evil  doers  .^  or,  who  will 
stand  up  for  me  against  the  workers  of  iniquity.''"  One  humlred 
thousand  men,  with  each  a  cross  u|)on  his  breast,  rallied  under  the 
standards  of  tlieir  leaders,  from  every  quarter  of  Christendom.  Ar- 
nold, abbot  of  Cisteaux,  assumed  the  spiritual  charge  of  this  im- 
mense army,  who  were  about  to  invade  a  harmless  and  inoffensive 
people,  and  to  exterminate  them  by  the  authority  of  the  pope,  for 
no  other  reason  than  that  they  persisted  in  reading  the  word  of 
God,  and  in  worshipping  him  as  that  Word  directed.  Simon,  earl 
of  Montford,  of  the  bastard  race  of  Robert,  king  of  France,  was 
appointed  the  commander-in-chief  of  the  crusaders. 

Whilst  the  preparations  for  this  dreadful  expedition  were  re- 


J3lh  century.]  the  chuhch  of  christ.  221 

sounding  throughout  Europe,  and  were  hastened  with  the  inipetu- 
osity  of  fanatical  zeal,  the  pope's  emissaries  were  sent  into  Lan- 
guedoc,  to  quiet  the  fears  of  the  Albigenses,  and  by  false  promises 
of  leniency  and  forbearance  on  the  part  of  the  Church,  to  lull  their 
vigilance.  Under  the  pretext  of  negouiating  peace,  tfiese  devoted 
victims  were  invited  to  hold  a  conference  at  Carcassone  with  the 
popish  bishops.  Nothing,  said  the  court  of  Rome,  would  be  more 
satisfactory  to  the  holy  mother  church,  than  to  arrest  the  arn^of 
the  executioners,  and  prevent  the  effusion  of  blood.  Such  was  the 
duplicity  and  cold  blooded  treachery  of  Innocent. 

In  the  meantime,  the  forces  were  organized,  the  standards  were 
unfurled,  and  the  knights  and  barons,  at  the  head  of  their  vassals, 
commenced  the  work  of  desolation.  Smoking  towns  and  villages 
and  the  bleeding  bodies  of  their  unhappy  victims,  marked  the  pro- 
gress of  their  invasion.  In  the  year  1209,  about  the  middle  of  the 
month  of  July,  Montfort  appeared  with  his  immense  host  before 
the  gates  of  Bezieres.  Raymond,  aware  of  the  impossibility  of 
defending  the  city,  supplicated  Arnold,  the  pope's  legate,  to  spare 
the  innocent.  "  You  must  defend  yourselves,"  replied  Arnold, 
"for  no  mercy  can  be  shown;  abjuration  of  your  faith,  or  the 
sword,  are  your  only  alternatives."  "  We  will  lose  our  lives,"  said 
the  besieged,  "  before  we  abjure  our  faith.  The  pope  can  destroy 
our  bodies;  but  we  will  not  deny  Him,  who  has  power  to  destroy 
both  soul  and  body  in  hell.  Our  faith  is  in  Christ  and  his  righte- 
ousness." 

Bezieres  was  taken  by  the  besiegers.  The  leaders  wished  to 
spare  the  papists  who  were  witliin  its  walls.  "  How  shall  we  dis- 
tinguish our  friends  from  our  enemies.''"  asked  the  barons  and 
knights,  "  Destroy  them  all,"  said  the  .pope's  legate,  "  the  Lord 
will  know  his  own."  The  gntes  were  forced  open;  and  one  hun- 
dred thousand  bloody  murderers,  with  the  cross  upon  their  breasts, 
and  the  draw^i  sword  in  their  h:inds,  poured  through  their  narrow 
passages,  and  commenced  an  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  the  inhab- 
itants. As  aU'ful,  and  even  as  incredible  as  the  narration  of  these 
bloody  transactions  appears  to  be,  we  are  assured  by  the  most  un- 
doubted testimony,  that  not  a  living  soul  escaped.  Seven  thousand 
dead  bodies  were  counted  in  one  of  the  churches.  The  streets 
were  strew^ed  with  the  slain,  and  every  dwelling  exhibited  the  same 
scene  of  desolation.  Sixty  tlionsand  persons  of  all  ages  and  sexes, 
were  thus  put  to  the  sword.  The  torch  was  applied  to  the  build- 
ings ;  and  the  whole  city  wns  consumed  to  ashes.  Raymond  had 
retreated  from  Bezieres  before  its  capture;  and  fortified  himself 
in  the  strong  battlements  of  Carcassone.  Thither  the  victorious 
army  marched  w\\.\\  an  increased  forcte  of  three  hundred  thou'^and 
men.  Some  authorities  have  estimated  the  number  at  five  hundred 
thousand. 


222  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  century. 

Raymond  was  himself,  a  papist ;  hut  he  defended  to  the  last  ex- 
tremity, his  subjects  of  a  dilierent  faith  ;  who,  he  assured  the  legate, 
never  did  wrong  intenlionally  to  any  one,  and  from  their  fidelity  to 
him,  he  was  resolved  never  to  desert  them.  These  noble  senti- 
ments but  excited  the  relentless  ferocity  of  Arnold.  Raymond 
well  knew,  from  the  recent  fate  of  Bezieres,  that  nothing  could  be 
expected  fiom  the  mercy  of  the  besiegers.  "He  therelore,  urged 
th^  inhabitants  to  defend  themselves  like  men,  and  to  recollect,  that 
both  their  lives  and  the  fiee  exercise  of  their  religion  was  at  stake; 
pledging  himself  that  he  would  never  forsake  them  in  so  honorable 
a  cause,  as  was  that  of  defending  themselves  against  their  common 
enemies,  who,  under  the  mask  of  dissembled  piety,  were  in  efl'ect 
nothing  better  than  thieves  and  robbers." 

Encouraged  by  these  cheering  assurances,  the  besieged  defended 
themselves  with  a  resolute  spirit.  The  suburbs  of  the  city  were 
reduced  to  ashes,  and  all  of  the  inhabitants  indiscriminately  slaugh- 
tered. But  in  the  attempts  to  subdue  the  fortress,  thousands  of  the 
crusaders  were  destroyed.  The  ground  was  covered,  and  the 
ditches  were  filled  with  their  dead  bodies.  But  successful  resist- 
ance to  the  end  was  evidently  impossible.  The  legate  was  per- 
suaded by  the  king  of  Arragon,  to  propose  to  the  earl  of  Toulouse 
terms  of  capitulation.  Fearful  of  disregarding  the  suggestions  of 
the  king,  but  resolved  at  the  same  time  not  to  permit  his  victims  to 
escape  his  grasp,  he  oifered  to  the  earl  such  conditions  as  he  could 
not  suppose  would  have  been  acceded  to;  conditions  truly  charac- 
teristic of  a  representative  of  Innocent.  "  That  the  earl  iiimself, 
and  twelve  others  with  their  baggage,  might  leave  the  city  unmo- 
lested. That  the  inhabitants,  men,  women,  maidens,  and  children, 
should  come  out  without  so  much  as  their  shirts  or  shifts  on,  or  the 
smallest  covering  to  hide  their  nakedness."  These  conditions  of 
surrender  were  peieinptorily  rejected  by  Raymond. 

Baffled  in  all  his  attempts  to  reduce  the  fortifications  by  force, 
and  thirsting  for  the  blood  of  his  devoted  victims,  Arnold  lesorted 
to  a  stratagem.  Raymond  was  invited  to  a  personal  interview  with 
liim,  under  a  sacred  pledge  of  safe  conduct  back  to  the  city.  The 
pretended  object  was  a  negociation  of  peace.  The  plot  succeeded  ; 
and  Raymond  was  detained  as  a  prisoner.  The  information  of  this 
treachery  filled  the  minds  of  the  besieged  with  consternation,  and 
despair.  Such  was  their  condition,  when  in  hopeless  desponden- 
cy, a  secret  subterranean  passage  was  discovered,  leading  from  the 
citadel  to  a  distance  of  nine  miles  into  the  country,  terminating  at 
the  castle  of  Caberet.  Through  this  the  inhabitants  escaped  ;  and 
dispersed  themselves  through  whatever  sections  they  expected  to 
receive  protection.  Disa|)pointed  by  the  escape  of  his  prey,  the 
legate  took  four  hundred  of  his  prisoners,  and  satiated  his  ven- 
geance by  committing  them  to  ihc  flames.  Carcassone  was  taken, 
w  ith  all  its  W'calth,  as  the  property  of  the  Church.     The  territor- 


1 3th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  223 

ies  of  Raymond  were  given  to  the  earl  of  Montfort.  From  this 
city  the  crusaders  proceeded  to  Castres  ;  and  having  exercised  tlie 
cruehies  there,  which  marked  their  footsteps  wherever  they  march- 
ed, continued  their  work  of  devastation,  burning  the  towns  and  de- 
stroying the  inhabitants.  Some  of  tlieir  prisoners  were  buried 
ahve,  and  others  burnt.  "  This  crusade,"  says  Hallam,  "  was  pros- 
ecuted with  every  atrocious  barbarity  wiiich  superstition,  the  mo- 
ther of  crimes,  could  inspire.  Languedoc,  a  country  for  that  age, 
flourishing  and  civihzed,  was  laid  waste  by  these  desolaters;  her 
cities  were  burnt;  her  inhabitants  swept  away  by  fire  and  the 
sword.  And  this  was  to  punish  a  fanaticism  ten  thousand  times 
more  innocent  than  their  owmi,  and  errors  which,  according  to  the 
worst  imputations,  left  the  huvs  of  humanity  and  the  peace  ol' social 
life  unimpaired."  Such  weve  the  events  of  the  campaign  of  the 
year  120y. 

The  earl  of  Montfort,  in  the  following  year,  resumed  his  work 
of  devastation  and  slaughter  with  an  army  of  fresh  recruits.  His 
first  act  was  to  violate  a  treaty  he  had  made  in  1209,  with  Raymond 
Roger,  the  count  of  Foix;  (a  province  of  France  at  the  foot  of  the 
Pyrenean  mountains.) 

Fire  and  the  sword  left  appalling  vestiges  of  their  progress.  Cas- 
tles and  towns  were  burnt;  and  the  inhabitants  who  could  not  es- 
cape their  pursuit,  fell  victims  to  their  diabolical  zeal.  Lavour  was 
burnt,  and  its  governor,  Aymerick,  hung.  Men  and  women  were 
alike  the  objects  of  their  cruelties.  The  sister  of  Aymerick,  was 
thrown  alive  into  a  pit,  and  overwhelmed  with  rocks.  Carcum 
submitted  to  thfir  arms;  and  there  sixty  were  put  to  death.  Pul- 
chra  Vallis,  a  flourishing  city  near  Toulouse,  was  taken;  and  four 
hundred  Albigenses  were  burnt.  Castres  de  Termes,  was  seized; 
and  Raymond  de  Termes,  was  confined  in  a  dungeon,  where  he 
died  ;  his  wife,  sister,  and  a  virgin  daughter,  were  burnt  at  the  same 
stake ;  and  many  ladies  of  noble  families  shared  the  same  fate  as 
heretics.  Having  devasted  the  whole  country  as  they  pursued  their 
conquests,  they  at  length  arrived  at  the  city  of  Minerva,  on  the 
confines  of  Spain.  So  thoroughly  reformed  was  this  place,  that  it 
was  remarked  of  it,  that  "  No  mass  had  been  sung  in  it  lor  thirty 
years."  After  a  siege  of  seven  weeks,  it  capitulated,  and  surren- 
dered at  discretion  to  the  crusaders.  Montfort  having  a  large  fire 
kindled,  called  upon  the  inliabilants  to  abjuie  tlieir  faith.  "  We 
have  renounced  the  church  of  Rome,"  said  these  niartyi's,  "  and 
neither  death  nor  life  will  make  us  abandon  the  opinions  we  have 
embraced."  One  hundred  and  eighty  men  and  women  were  instant- 
ly thrown  into  the  blazing  jjile.  "  These,"  said  the  writer  on  the 
Albigensian  persecutions,  "died  steadfast  in  the  truth,  praising  God 
that  he  had  counted  them  worthy  to  suffer  death  for  the  iledeem- 
er's  sake." 


224  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  centurj. 

When  the  castle  of  La  Vour  was  taken,  Montfort  besought  the 
crusaders  to  take  the  inhabitants  pnsjners,  that  "  the  priests  of 
the  living  God  might  not  be  deprived  of  iheir  promised  jo}s."  A 
monkish  writer  of  these  occurrences,  which  he  witnessed,  says 
"  'I'he  noble  count  (Montfoit)  delivered  over  to  the  priests  the  in- 
numerable heretics  that  the  castle  contained,  whom  they  buined  alive 
with  the  utmost  joy." 

But  the  heart  sickens  at  the  recital  of  such  deeds  of  brutal  cruel- 
ty. "  The  time  conieth,"  said  our  Savior  to  his  disciples,  "that 
whosoever  killeth  you  will  think  that  he  doeth  God  service.  And 
these  things  will  they  do  unto  you,  because  tliey  have  not  known 
the  Father,  nor  me."  The  counts  of  Toulouse,  and  of  Foix,  thus 
driven  out  of  their  cities,  collected  their  forces,  and  for  a  time  suc- 
cessfully opposed  the  progress  of  Montfoit;  but  at  the  battle  of 
Muiet,  near  the  Garonne,  they  were  signally  defeated,  and  their 
troops  were  routed  with  a  dreadful  slaughter.  This  desperate 
struggle  of  the  Albigenses  in  1213,  seemed  to  be  their  last  effort  to 
recover  their  religious  rights. 

"  The  slaughter  had  been  so  prodigious,"  says  Sismondi,  "  the 
massacres  so  universal,  the  terror  so  profound,  and  of  so  long  dura- 
tion, that  the  popish  church  appeared  to  have  completely  obtained 
her  object.  The  worship  of  the  reformed  Albigenses  had  every 
where  ceased.  All  teaching  was  become  impossible.  Almost  all 
the  doctors  of  the  new  church  had  perished  miserably."  The  per- 
secution was  arrested  for  the  want  of  objects.  The  council  of 
Lateran,  in  1215,  awarded  to  the  earl  of  Montfort,  all  the  territo- 
ries belonging  to  Raymond;  and  he  received  them  from  the  hands 
of  Innocent.  The  quiet  wliich  followed,  encouraged  the  dispersed 
Albigenses  to  return  to  their  former  abodes.  But  they  did  not  long 
enjoy  their  ancient  seats  unmolested.  A  gathering  storm  soon  ap- 
prized them  of  their  danger.  "Rome  was  not  yet  drunk  with  the 
blood  of  the  saints,  and  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs  of  Jesus." 

In  the  year  1218,  the  war  of  extermination  commenced  with  re- 
newed vigor.  Iloiiorius  III.,  had  succeeded  Innocent;  and  in  the 
second  year  of  his  pontificate,  he  published  his  bull  of  excommuni- 
cation against  the  Albigenses.  "We  excommunicate,"  said  Hono- 
rius,  "all  heretics  of  both  sexes,  and  of  whatever  sect,  with  their 
favorers,  receivers  and  defenders,  &c."  The  castle  of  Marmande, 
was  taken  in  the  following  year.  By  a  perfidious  violation  of  tlie 
treaty  of  surrender,  through  the  persuasions  of  the  bishop  of  Saintes, 
all  the  inhabitants,  men,  women  and  children,  amounting  in  number 
to  five  thousand  persons  were  cruelly  massacred.  The  city  of 
Toulouse,  the  capital  of  Languedoc,  was  the  next  object  of  the 
crusader's,  or  pious  pilgrims,  as  they  were  called  by  the  papal  wri- 
ters. 

The  pope's  legate  made  a  solemn  asseveration,  that  "  In  the  said 
Toulouse  should  remain,  neither  man,  woman,  boy,  nor  girl ;  all 


13th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  225 

should  be  put  to  death,  without  sparing-  okl  or  young;  and  in  all  the 
city  tliete  should  not  remain  one  stone  above  another,  but  all  should 
be  demolished   and  thrown  down."     At  the  siege  of  this  city,  the 
earl  of  Montfoit  was  killed.     The  besiegers  were  discomfited,  and 
were  compelled  to  retreat  with  precipitation.     In  the  year  1222, 
Raymond  died.     He  was  succeeded   by  his  son,  Raymond  VII. 
Amalric,  the  son  of  Montford,  inherited  the  territories  of  his  father, 
and  succeeded  him  in  the  command  of  the  papal  armies.    The  war 
was  conducted  by  these  two  leaders  with  various  and  doubtful  suc- 
cess.    Louis   VIIL,  surnamed   the  Lion,  ascended  the  throne  of 
France  in  the  year  1223.     So  that  in  this  year  there  was  an  entire 
change  of  commanders  on  both  sides.    The  war  was,  notwithstand- 
ing, carried  on  with  unabated  vigor.     Raymond  obtained  several 
triumphs  over  Amalric;  and  Honorius,  alarmed  at  the  unfavorable 
change  of  events,  called  upon  Louis,  with  the  most  tlattering  pro- 
mises, to  take  up  arms  in  defense  of  the  Church.     In  willing  obe- 
dience to  this  mandate,  Louis,  who  was  not  less  a  fanatic  than  the 
abbot  of  Cisteaux,  took  up  the  cross,  and  appeared  at  the  head  of 
the  papal  forces.     In  June,  1226,  he  closed  his  career  of  victories 
by  the  capture  of  Avignon.     On  the  surrender  of  that  city,  after  a 
siege  of  three  months,  the  cruelties  inflicted  on  the  inhabitants  were 
of  a  similar  character  to  the  acts  of  barbarity,  which  popery  has 
invariably  displayed  when  triumphant  over  its  enemies.     The  be- 
sieged had  sutfered  from  disease  and  famine;  and  submitted  to  the 
superior  force  of  Louis,  when  resistance  could  no  longer  be  edec- 
tual.     Favorable  conditions  were  ofteied  by  the  pope's  legate;  but 
when  the  gates  were  opened  the  whole  army  of  the  crusaders  rushed 
in,  contrary  to  the  stipulations  of  the  surrender.     The  miserable 
inhabitants,  w^orn  out  by  fatigue,  and  enfeebled  by  disease  and  star- 
vation, were  bound  in  fetters,  and  large  numbers  of  them  were  put 
to  death.    The  city  was  given  up  to  the  soldiery.    The  walls  were 
demolished ;  and  ruin  and  desolation  pervaded  its  streets. 

Louis  died  not  long  after  he  had  reduced  both  the  provinces  of 
Languedoc  and  Avignon ;  and  his  son,  wlio  is  known  in  history  as 
St.  Louis,  succeeded  to  the  kingdom  at  the  age  of  eleven  years. 

The  Albigenses  made  but  a  i^eeble  resistance  after  these  disasters. 
They  were  from  the  fall  of  Avignon,  more  the  objects  of  persecu- 
tion than  an  enemy  in  the  field.  The  regency  of  France,  during 
the  minority  of  Louis  IX.,  was  intrusted  to  his  mother,  Blanche  of 
Castile.  By  her  address  and  firmness,  the  interests  of  the  kingdom 
were  ably  and  successfully  conducted.  Raymond,  overwhelmed 
by  the  regal  forces,  and  pressed  on  all  sides,  was  compelled,  in  the 
year  1229,  to  cede  to  Louis,  tiie  greater  part  of  Languedoc,  with 
the  reversionary  right  of  the  remainder  on  the  failure  of  his  des- 
cendants. 

Whilst  the  popish  armies  were  thus  from  year  to  year  pursuing 
their  victories  over  the  forces  of  the  Albigenses,  destroying  their 
15 


226  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [13th  centur}. 

towns  and  villages,  the  inquisitions  established  in  Languedoc,  were 
not  less  active  with  their  instruments  ot"  torture  and  death.  "  Inde- 
pendent of  those  who  fell  by  the  edge  of  the  sword,  or  were  com- 
mitted to  the  flames  by  the  soldiers  and  magistrates,  the  inquisition 
was  constantly  at  work,  from  the  year  1206  to  1228,  and  produced 
the  most  dreadful  havoc  among  the  disciples  of  Christ.  Of  the 
effects  occasioned  by  this  infernal  engine  of  cruelty  and  oppression, 
we  may  have  some  notion  from  this  circumstance,  that  in  the  last 
mentioned  year,  the  arch-bishops  of  Aix,  Aries  and  Narbonne, 
found  it  necessary  to  intercede  with  the  monks  of  the  inquisition, 
to  defer  a  little  their  work  of  imprisonment,  until  the  pope  was  ap- 
prised of  the  immense  numbers  apprehended,  numbers  so  great, 
that  it  was  impossible  to  defray  the  charge  of  their  subsistence,  or 
even  to  provide  stone  and  mortar  to  build  prisons  foi  them.  The 
inquisitors  were  directed,  as  to  those  who  are  altogether  impenitent 
and  incorrigible,  or  concerning  whom  you  may  doubt  of  their  re- 
lapse or  escape,  or  that,  being  at  large  again,  they  would  infect 
others,  you  may  condemn  such  without  delay." 

It  has  been  estimated,  from  very  credible  data,  that  not  less  than 
one  million  of  the  Albigenses  were  sacrificed  by  popish  cruelty 
during  these  persecutions;  terminated,  or  rather  suspended,  in  the 
year  1229.  "  These  sectaries,"  says  Hume,  "though  the  most  in- 
nocent and  inoffensive  of  mankind,  were  exterminated,  with  all  the 
circumstances  of  extreme  violence  and  barbarity." 

It  was  against  these  obstinate  and  perverse  heretics,  that  the 
council  of  Toulouse,  in  1229,  prohibited  laymen  from  reading  or 
publishing  the  sacred  Scriptures.  Such  was  the  issue  of  this  ex- 
terminating warfare;  continued  with  little  interm.ission  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century.  The  Albigenses  were  overcome,  by  overwelming 
numbers,  and  the  untiring  zeal  of  their  enemies.  'J'hey  were  driven 
out  of  the  fair  valleys  of  southern  France ;  but  they  were  not  ex- 
terminated. The  Pyrenees,  the  Alps,  and  the  Cevennes,  aflbrded 
them  a  refuge  from  the  power  of  Rome.  Into  these  mountain  re- 
cesses they  retired ;  and  preserved  their  religion,  and  enjoyed  lib- 
erty of  conscience.  They  were  dispersed  over  Europe;  and  even 
in  Rome  itself,  in  the  year  1231,  history  informs  us,  numbeis  were 
arrested  and  burnt.  In  1232,  Gregory  IX.,  wrote  to  the  emperor 
Frederick,  "that  the  Catharines,  Paterines,  Poor  of  Lyons,  and 
otiier  heretics,  formed  in  the  school  of  the  Albigenses,  had  appeared 
in  Lombaidy  and  the  two  Sicilies."  Frederick,  at  the  solicitation 
of  Gregory,  issued  an  edict,  commanding  "  Ail  judges  immediately 
to  deliver  to  the  flames  every  man  who  should  be  convicted  of 
heresy  by  the  bishop  of  his  diocese ;  and  to  pull  out  the  tongues  of 
those  to  whom  the  bishop  should  think  it  proper  to  show  favor, 
that  they  might  not  corrupt  others." 

Gregory,  encouraged  by  the  obsequiousness  of  Frederick,  sent 
into  Germany,  Conrad  of  Marpurg,  as  his  inquisitor.     This  was 


I4th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  227 

the  first  attempt  to  introduce  into  the  empire  this  detestable  engine 
of  papal  cruelty.  But  such  was  the  brutal  barbarity  of  this  repre- 
sentative of  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  that  the  populace,  in  the 
fury  of  their  anger,  rose  up  against  him  and  put  him  to  death. 

About  this  time,  the  inquisition  was  introduced  into  Arragon, 
Spain.  In  that  country,  it  continued  to  flourish  for  many  centuries, 
and  is  probably  not  even  at  the  present  day  entirely  abolished. 

Throughout  this  century,  the  Romish  church  appears  to  have 
directed  all  its  efforts  to  the  suppression  of  the  Albigensian  doc- 
trines, and  the  extermination  of  that  sect.  In  these  it  succeeded,  if 
not  effectually,  so  fai-  as  to  disorganize  their  churches.  Their  pure 
and  spiritual  doctrines  still  lived,  and  were  widely  disseminated 
over  Europe ;  and,  with  those  of  the  Vaudois  in  Piedmont,  were 
the  nuclei  of  the  religious  principles  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
Rome  destroyed  the  body,  but  it  had  no  power  over  the  soul  of  the 
Albicfensian  church. 


CHAPTER    X. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  century,  Boniface  VIII.,  occupied  the 
pontifical  seat.  Philip  IV.,  surnamed  the  Fair,  was  the  reigning 
sovereign  of  France;  and  Albert  I.,  son  of  Rodolph,  of  the  house 
of  Hapsburg,  was  emperor  of  Germany.  Edward  I.,  was  the  Eng- 
lish monarch. 

The  century  was  ushered  in  by  a  warm  controversy  between  the 
pope  and  the  kings  of  England  and  of  France,  on  the  spiritual  and 
temporal  rights  of  the  Church.  The  question  which  gave  rise  to 
this,  was  that  of  the  power  in  the  civil  authority  to  impose  taxes 
upon  the  clergy.  Edward  appears  to  have  exercised  this  sovereign 
prerogative  without  much  molestation  by  Boniface.  The  ecclesi- 
astics were  impatient  under  the  frequent  and  exorbitant  subsidies 
which  they  were  required  to  pay;  and  upon  their  refusal  to  com- 
ply with  these  exactions,  their  property  was  forcibly  seized  and 
confiscated  to  the  crown.  The  pope's  bull  forbidding  them  to  sub- 
mit to  the  taxations  of  the  government  did  not  intimidate  the  king 
from  enforcing  his  measures;  and  the  contributions  were  made,  but 
not  without  complaint. 

With  Philip,  however,  the  pontiff  contested  this  right  with  more 
promptness  and  decision ;  and  the  contest  was  carried  on  bftween 
them,  with  an  apparent  determination  on  each  side,  to  maintain  their 
respective  claims.  The  imprisonment  by  the  king  of  the  pope's 
legate,  for  disrespectful  conduct,  was  the  circumstance  which  seems 
to  have  occasioned  the  open  rupture  between  them.   Boniface's  bull, 


228  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  centurj, 

entitled  "  Clericis  laicos,"  issued  some  years  previous  to  this  event, 
forbidding  the  clergy  to  pay  any  tribute  to  their  respective  govern- 
ments without  his  consent,  had  been  disregarded  both  in  England 
and  France.  The  violation  of  the  sacred  privileges  of  a  legate,  was 
seized  by  him  as  oftering  an  advantageous  ground  for  renewing  the 
controversy  with  success.  Accordingly  he  addressed  a  letter  to 
Philip  in  the  following  laconic  language:  "Boniface,  bishop  and  ser- 
vant of  the  servants  of  God;  to  Philip,  king  of  France,  "Fear 
God,  and  keep  his  commandments.  We  would  have  you  to  know 
that  you  are  subject  to  us,  both  in  things  spiritual  and  temporal ; 
and  we  declare  all  those  to  be  heretics  who  believe  the  contrary." 
This  papal  missive  was  not  regarded  by  the  king,  and  another  was 
dictated,  in  a  more  imperative  tone,  and  more  definite  as  to  the  ex- 
tent of  the  papal  jurisdiction.  "  God  hath  established  us  over  kings 
and  kingdoms,  to  pluck  up,  to  overthrow,  to  destroy,  to  scatter,  to 
build,  and  to  plant,  in  his  name,  and  by  his  doctrine.  Do  not  allow 
yourself  to  be  persuaded  that  you  have  not  a  superior,  and  that  you 
are  not  subject  to  the  head  of  the  ecclesiastical  hierarchy.  He  that 
thinks  thus  is  a  fool ;  and  he  that  obstinately  maintains  it  is  an  in- 
fidel, separated  from  the  ilock  of  the  good  shepherd."  Philip,  not 
intimidated  by  this  haughty  and  menacing  language,  replied  to  the 
epistle  of  Boniface  with  a  becoming  spirit ;  and  ordered  his  bull' 
to  be  publicly  burnt  in  Paris.  It  was  on  this  occasion,  that  he  con- 
vened in  a  legislative  assembly  the  three  orders  of  his  kingdom ; 
and  this  was  the  first  meeting  of  the  states-general,  or  the  nobility, 
the  clergy,  and  the  people. 

The  decided  measures  of  the  king  were  sustained  by  the  assem- 
bly, each  estate  declaring  unequivocally  against  the  temporal  pre- 
tensions of  the  pontiiT.  A  council  was  convened  in  Rome,  and  that 
famous  constitution,^  which  has  already  been  alluded  to,  was  pub- 
lished by  Boniface.  In  this  he  asserted,  "  That  Jesus  Christ  had 
granted  a  two  fold  power  to  his  church,  or  in  other  words,  the 
spiritual  and  temporal  sword;  that  he  had  subjected  the  whole  hu- 
man race  to  the  authority  of  the  Roman  pontilf,  and  that  whoever 
dared  to  disbelieve  it,  were  to  be  deemed  heretics,  and  stood  ex- 
cluded from  all  possibility  of  salvation."  The  next  step  taken  by 
Boniface,  was  to  excommunicate  Philip,  and  oiler  the  crown  of 
France  to  thie  emperor  Albert.  This  was  assuming  at  once,  not 
only  to  destroy,  but  to  build.  Martin  IV.,  in  1282,  had  off'ered  the 
crown  of  Arragon  to  Charles  of  Valois.  The  power  of  deposing 
monarchs  had  been  frequently  exercised  with  ellect  by  the  popes; 
but  few  instances  are  mentioned  in  history  of  their  having  success- 

'This  bull  was  entitled  "  Jlusculla  fUii." 

-Entitled  "  Unam  sanclam,'^  and  is  recorded  in  the  Corp.  Jur.  Canon.  Extract. 
Commun.  "  Utcrque  est  in  potcstate  ecclesiaj,  spiritalis,  scilicet  gladius  et  malcrialis. 
Sed  is  quidcm  pro  ecclesia,  iilo  vcro  ab  ccclesia  cxerceiidiis  ;  illc  sacerdotis,  is  manu 
regum  ac  militum,  sed  ad  nutum  et  patientiam  sacerdotis,  &c.,  &c." 


14th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  229 

fully  attempted  to  substitute  one  prince  for  another,  in  violation  oi 
the  established  rules  of  succession.  Another  measure  of  coercion 
was  not  yet  resorted  to,  to  place  the  kinj^dom  of  France  under  an 
interdict,  and  thereby  to  absolve  his  subjects  from  their  allegiance. 
Whilst  affairs  were  thus  approaching  a  crisis,  an  emissary  of  the 
king  went  into  Italy,  and  with  the  assistance  of  the  family  of  the 
Colonnas,  seized  the  pontiff.  In  consequence  of  the  violence  in- 
flicted on  his  person,  and  the  mortification  of  feeling  from  the  in- 
dignities he  suffered,  Boniface  died  soon  after.' 

Although  the  powers  of  the  popes  may  be  said  to  have  reached 
their  fullest  extent  at  this  period,  we  may  now  date  the  commence- 
ment of  their  decline.  The  superstitious  veneration  which  had 
prevailed  among  all  classes  of  men  for  ages  past,  had  begun  for 
some  time  previously  to  be  diminished.  As  the  public  mind  became 
more  enlightened,  the  false  pretensions  of  popery  were  discerned, 
exposed,  and  at  length  disregarded.  The  princes  who  occupied 
the  three  most  powert^ul  thrones  in  Europe,  in  the  beginning  of  this 
century,  maintained  their  respective  prerogatives  with  firmness. 
The  successor  of  Albert,  Henry  VII.,  of  the  house  of  Luxemburg, 
vindicated  his  claims  by  the  sword,  and  even  imposed  a  tribute  on 
all  the  States  of  Italy.  The  energetic  reign  of  Edward  III.,  com- 
menced in  1327.  Clement  V.,  removed  from  Rome  to  Avignon  in 
1309.  These  were  prominent  causes  which  were  calculated  to 
check  the  usurpations  of  the  popes,  and  to  weaken  their  preten- 
sions. IJiit  there  were  other  causes ;  some  of  which  have  been  re- 
ferred to,  in  the  history  of  the  preceding  century. 

Whilst  a  general  inquiry  after  truth,  the  cultivation  of  literature 
and  philosophical  investigations,  v/ere  perceptibly  developing  the 
powers  of  the  mind,  and  producing  a  favorable  change  in  the  mor- 
als and  the  intellectual  character  of  society ;  the  clergy  alone,  in- 
cluding the  head  of  the  Church,  continued  to  retrograde,  and  to 
descend  still  deeper  into  the  abyss  of  immorality  and  vice. 

"  The  governors  of  the  Churcli,"  says  Mosheim,  "  from  the 
liighest  to  the  lowest  orders,  were  at  this  period,  addicted  to  vices 
peculiarly  dishonorable  to  their  sacred  character.  Our  silence 
would  he  inexcusable,  since  the  flagrant  abuses  that  prevailed  among 
them  were  attended  with  consequences  equally  pernicious  to  the 
interests  of  religion  and  the  well  being  of  society."     Boniface  had 

'Dante,  in  his  Vision  of  Hell,  represents  Nicholas  III.,  as  exclaiming  when  he  saw 
him,  suppo.sing  him  to  be  Boniface — 

Ha^  already  standest  there? 
Already  standest  there,  O  Boniface! 
By  many  a  year  the  writin;or  play'd  mo  false. 
So  early  dust  thou  surfeit  with  llie  wealth. 
For  wiiich  thou  fearedst  not  in  guile  to  take 
The  lovely  lady,  and  then  mangle  her?     Canlo.  ]Qth. 

"  He  entered  the  pontificate  like  a  fox,  reigned  like  a  lion,  and  died  like  a  dog."' 


230  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  centurj. 

obtained  the  pontificate  by  bribery.  Having  persuaded  the  virtu- 
ous Celestine,  whose  virtues  had  made  him  odioys  to  the  clergy,  to 
abdicate  the  papal  throne,  he  procured  his  own  election  by  the  in- 
famous crime  ot"  Simony.  The  first  act  oi"  his  administration  was 
the  imprisonment  of  his  predecessor,  a  man  of  irreproachable  mor- 
als, of  evident  sanctity,  and  advanced  in  life.  His  whole  career 
was  one  of  insatiable  avarice,  and  the  most  indomitable  ambition. 
After  his  death,  Benedict  XI.,  reigned  for  the  short  term  of  nine 
months;  and  died  from  the  effects  of  a  poisonous  draught.  His 
successor  Clement  V.,  who  had  been  the  arch-bishop  of  Bourdeaux, 
received  the  suffrages  of  the  electoral  college,  through  the  influence 
and  machinations  of  the  king  of  France. 

The  revocation  of  all  the  bulls  published  by  Boniface  against 
Philip,  by  the  timid  and  cautious  Benedict,  was  a  severe  blow  to 
the  temporal  authority  of  the  popes.  The  Christian  world  beheld 
with  amazement  the  triumph  of  a  prince  over  the  head  of  the 
Church,  at  a  period  of  its  highest  pretensions.  The  superstitious 
dread  of  an  excommunication  thundered  from  the  chair  of  St.  Peter, 
was  weakened ;  for  that  thunder  was  now  heard  to  roll  harmlessly 
over  the  head  of  one  who  had  dared  to  defy  its  powers.  Popery 
for  the  first  time  receded,  and  that  single  step  of  retrocession, 
proved  that  it  was  neither  infallible,  nor  invincible.  The  next  fatal 
error  was  the  removal  of  the  papal  court  to  Avignon.  This  was, 
however,  both  a  cause  and  a  consequence  of  its  weakness. 

The  civil  commotions  which  disturbed  the  peace  of  Rome,  and 
the  dangers  to  which  the  popes  were  exposed  by  the  contending 
factions  in  the  city,  had  frequently  compelled  them  to  reside,  un- 
willing exiles  from  the  Vatican,  in  the  more  quiet  and  retired  cities 
of  Italy.  The  dissensions  which  prevailed  in  the  twelfth  century, 
and  the  acts  of  personal  violence  committed  by  the  excited  populace 
against  the  vicars  of  Christ,  have  been  adverted  to  in  the  history  of 
that  period.  It  is  certain  that  the  disunity  of  the  pontiffs  was  less 
respected  in  the  capital,  than  in  the  distant  provinces  under  the  jur- 
isdiction of  the  Romish  see.  "  Though  the  name  and  authority  of 
the  court  of  Rome  were  so  terrible  in  the  remote  countries  of 
Europe,  which  were  sunk  in  profound  ignorance,  and  u^ere  entirely 
unacquainted  with  its  character  and  conduct;  the  pope  was  so  little 
revered  at  home,  that  his  inveterate  enemies  surrounded  the  gates 
of  Rome  itself",  and  even  controlled  his  government  in  that  city; 
and  the  ambassadors,  who,  from  the  distant  extremity  of  Europe, 
carried  to  him  the  humble,  or  ratlier  abject,' submissions  of  the 
greatest  potentate  of  the  age,  found  the  utmost  ditliculty  to  make 
tlieir  way  to  him,  and  to  throw  themselves  at  his  feet."  (Hume.) 
No  traces  of  the  ancient  republican  features  of  the  government  re- 
mained. The  titles  of  senator  and  consul  occasionally  occur  in  its 
history ;  but  they  were  distinctions,  without  the  appendages  of 
office  and  power.     The  prsefect,  who  united  in  his  person  the  char- 


14th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  231 

acters  and  prerogatives  of  a  civil  as  well  as  a  criminal  judge  under 
the  emperor  Constantine  and  his  successors,  had  dwindled  down  to 
the  otiiccr  of  a  municipality.  It  was  the  custom,  not  only  in  Rome, 
but  in  many  of  the  Italian  cities,  to  call  to  the  civil  administration 
of  alfairs,  a  foreigner  of  reputed  worth,  who  exercised  a  kind  of 
magisterial  jurisdiction  for  a  limited  period,  to  whom  was  given  the 
title  of  senator.  But  this  was  aholished  by  Nicholas  III.,  and  the 
title,  as  well  as  the  office,  was  invested  in  the  reigning  pontilf. 
Tliere  seems  to  have  been  in  the  fourteentli  century,  no  department 
in  the  civil  government  of  the  city,  distinct  from  the  ecclesiastical, 
#'ith  power  to  control  and  administer  its  internal  ati'airs.  The  rival 
families  of  Colonna  and  Ursini — the  former,  the  representative  of 
the  Gliibeline  party,  and  the  latter  that  of  the  Guelphs — had  ac- 
quired an  entire  ascendency  over  the  otficial  rulers  of  the  city. 
The  rival  inliuences  which  they  exercised  occasioned  those  Irequent 
outi;ages  and  acts  of  violence,  which  disturbed  the  peace  of  Rome. 
Tlie  Colonnas  were  the  constant  and  powerful  enemies  of  the  popes; 
and  were  the  abettors  of  the  seditious  movements,  which  contra- 
vened their  authority,  and  sometimes  endangered  their  lives.  From 
tlie  tumults  which  these  antagonist  factions  created,  the  pontiifs 
withdrew  into  Anagni,  Perugia,  Viturbo,  and  the  adjacent  cities.  It 
was  in  Anagni,  that  Boniface  was  surprised  by  Nogaret,  the  emis- 
sary of  Philip  ;  and  it  was  from  the  party  of  the  Colonnas  who  ac- 
companied him,  that  tlie  pope  received  those  personal  indignities 
which  occasioned  his  death. 

In  consequence  then  of  these  dissensions  in  Rome,  and  from  the 
persuasions  of  the  king,  Clement  removed  his  court  from  Italy  to 
the  banks  of  the  Rhone.  One  of  the  immediate  results  of  this 
measure  was  the  ascendency  of  the  Colonnas,  or  the  Ghibelines,  in 
Italy,  "  insomuch,  that  they  not  only  invaded  and  ravaged  St.  Pe- 
ter's patrimony,  but  even  attacked  the  papal  authority,  by  their 
writings.  This  caused  many  cities  to  revolt  from  the  popes  ;  even 
Rome  Itself  was  the  grand  source  and  fomenter  of  cabals,  tumults, 
and  civil  wars.  The  laws  and  decrees  sent  thither  from  France, 
were  publicly  treated  with  contempt  by  tlie  common  people,  as  well 
as  by  the  nobles." 

Before  we  proceed  to  notice  the  events  which  are  properly  com- 
prised in  the  general  history  of  the  Church,  those  connected  with 
the  particular  succession  of  the  several  popes,  who  reigned  in  this 
century,  should  be  first  adverted  to. 

After  the  death  of  Clement,  in  the  year  1314,  the  see  remained 
vacant  two  years ;  and  the  Church,  as  it  had  frequently  before,  pre- 
sented a  singular  prodigy,  a  vast  body  and  huge  limbs  without  a 
head.  The  cardinals,  now  being  principally  French,  supported  the 
pretensions  of  a  candidate  of  their  own  nation.  The  electoral 
college  was  thus  distracted  by  tw^o  contending  factions;  and  the 
election  of  a  successor  was  protracted  by  the  cabals  and  the  in- 


232  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  century. 

trigucs  of  the  parties  until  the  year  1316.  The  cardinal  bishop  of 
Porto,  was  finally  chosen,  and  assumed  the  title  of  John  XXII. 
The  same  difficulty  occurred  in  1334;  and  nearly  a  year  had  ex- 
pired, after  the  death  of  John,  before  the  vacancy  was  filled  by  the 
choice  of  the  cardinal  of  St.  Prisca,  who  is  known  in  the  calendar 
as  Benedict  XII.  In  the  year  1370,  a  French  ecclesiastic  was  ele- 
vated to  the  papal  chair  in  Avignon.  No  dissensions  had  disturbed 
the  conclave  of  cardinals  since  1334,  and  Gregory  XI.  succeeded 
to  the  pontificate.  This  pontitT  returned  to  Rome  in  1376,  or  six- 
ty-seven years  after  Clement  V.  had  removed  his  court  lo  Avignon, 
This  period,  however,  is  generally  supposed  to  have  been  seventj^ 
years ;  and  was  by  the  Italians,  in  derision,  entitled  the  Babylonish 
captivity. 

Gregory  was  persuaded  to  this  measure  by  Catharine,  a  virgin 
of  Sens;  who,  professing  to  be  endowed  with  the  spirit  of  pro- 
phecy, and  to  be  moved  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  so 
wrought  upon  the  mind  of  her  spiritual  father,  that  he  assented. 
But  his  reception  in  Rome  by  the  people,  who  treated  him  with  the 
grossest  indignities,  determined  him  to  return  to  Avignon;  which 
he  ^vas  preparing  to  do,  when  death  put  an  end  to  all  of  his  world- 
ly plans  and  expectations  in  1378. 

The  death  of  Gregory,  and  the  efforts  to  fill  the  vacant  chair, 
were  accompanied  by  dissensions  in  the  electoral  college ;  and  pro- 
duced that  "  great  schism^  of  the  West,"  as  it  has  been  termed  in 
ecclesiastical  history,  which  was  not  healed  until  the  accession  of 
Martin  V.,  in  the  year  1419.  Thus  was  the  Church,  one  and  indi- 
visible, distracted,  and  torn  by  contending  factions,  for  more  than 
forty  years.  Twenty-two  cardinals  composed  the  electoral  college. 
Sixteen  of  these  assembled  in  conclave ;  the  remaining  six  were  at 
Avignon.  The  arch-bishop  of  Bari,  was  elected;  was  adored,  in- 
vested and  crowned;  and  assumed  the  title  of  Urban  \T.  This 
election  was  hastened  by  the  tumultuous  populace  without ;  who 

'This  term,  taken  in  a  strictly  scriptural  sense,  has  been  misapplied  by  the  Churches 
generally,  both  Protestant  and  [lapal.  It  occurs  in  three  instances  only  in  the  Scrip- 
ture of  the  New  Testament.  In  the  first  epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  Paul  says-',  1st 
chap.  10th  verse.  "  Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  that  ye  all  speak  the  same  thing,  and  tliut  tliero  bo  no  divit^ions  (in  the  origi- 
nal sriiisms,)  among  you."  And  in  the  1  lib  chap.  18th  verse,  "  For  first  of  all,  when 
ye  come  together  in  the  Ciiurch,  I  hear  that  there  be  divisions  (schisms)  among  you, 
&c."  And  in  the  12th  chap.  25tli  ver.se,  "That  there  should  be  no  schism  in  the 
body;  but  tliat  the  members  should  have  the  same  care  one  for  another.''  In  the 
first,  Paul  explains  his  n)caning  by  remarking,  "  For  it  hath  been  declared  unto 
me — tiiat  there  arc  contcntinns  among  you."  In  the  second,  he  expressly  alluiios  to 
their  conduct  at  /he  Lord's  Sup[)er.  In  the  third,  ho  addres.ses  them  as  members  of 
one  body  ;  and  intimates  that,  not  having  the  .same  care  one  for  another,  as  tlie  mem- 
bers of  the  natural  body  have,  is  the  sckism  which  he  has  mentioned.  Schism,  there- 
foie,  in  a  scriptural  sense,  is  not  a  separation  or  xcilhdnmul  from  the  Churcii.  T/ie 
motive  for  doing  tiiis,  as  from  apostacy,  for  instance,  from  spiritual  fiitli,  might  make 
it  sinful.  If  the  object  be,  to  unite  with  another  orthodox  Christian  Church,  tho 
withdrawal  is  not  schistn. 


14th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  233 

insisted,  by  threats  and  clamors,  upon  the  choice  of  an  Italian.  The 
eleven  French  cardinals  who  voted,  would  iiave  preferred  one  of 
their  own  nation;  but  they  were  intimidated  by  the  mob;  and  ac- 
quiesced in  the  choice.  Urban  was  arrogant  and  overbearing;  and 
became  odious  to  the  electors  themselves ;  who  soon  after  with- 
drew from  Rome  to  Fondi,  and  there  formally  elected  Robert, 
count  of  Geneva,  as  the  successor  of  Gregory.  He  was  known  as 
Clement  VII.  They  alledged,  that  their  votes  had  been  given  to 
the  arch-bisliop  of  Bari,  under  coercion,  and  in  obedience  to  the 
imperative  demands  of  the  people. 

^  Urban  remained  in  Rome;  Clement  established  his  papal  court 
at  Avignon.  France,  Spain,  Scotland,  Sicily  and  Cyprus,  acknow- 
ledged Clement  as  the  legitimate  successor  of  St.  Peter;  the  other 
European  states  adhered  to  Urban  as  the  true  apostolic  vicar  of 
Christ.  From  their  respective  thrones,  these  ghostly  fathers  thun- 
dered against  each  other,  the  most  bitter  anathemas.  The  curses 
from  Mount  Ebal  were  not  re-echoed  by  blessings  from  Gerizim. 
A  question  arises  which  must  be  submitted  to  the  tribunal  of  the 
Casuist:  whether  the  constraint  imposed  by  the  intimidations  of  the 
populace  ought  not  to  have  vitiated  the  election  in  Rome.''  "  The 
conclave,"  says  Gibbon,  "  was  intimidated  by  the  shouts,  and  en- 
compassed by  the  arms  of  thirty  thousand  rebels;  the  bells  of  the 
capitol  and  St.  Peter's  rang  in  alarm ;  Death,  or  an  Italian  pope ! 
was  the  universal  cry;  tlie  same  tbreat  was  repeated  by  the  twelve 
bannerets  or  chiefs  of  the  quarters,  in  the  form  of  charitable  ad- 
vice; some  preparations  were  made  for  burning  the  obstinate  car- 
dinals, and  had  they  chosen  a  transalpine  subject,  it  is  probable 
that  they  u'ould  never  have  departed  alive  from  the  Vatican. — 
The  same  constraint  imposed  the  necessity  of  dissembling  in  the 
eyes  of  Rome  and  of  the  wor-ld;  the  pride  and  cruelty  of  Ui'ban 
piTsented  a  more  inevitable  danger;  and  they  soon  discovered  the 
features  of  the  tyrant,  who  could  walk  in  his  garden  and  recite  his 
Breviary,  ^vhile  he  heard  from  an  adjacent  chamber,  six  cardinals 
groaning  on  the  rack."  It  is  even  to  the  present  day  a  controvert- 
ed question,  which  of  those  two  claimants  should  have  been  con- 
sideied  the  legal  possessor  of  the  papal  throne.  But  to  Protestants 
it  is  one  altogether  devoid  of  interest ;  who  very  pi'operly  view  the 
whole  system  of  poper-y,  as  founded  on  fraud,  and  perpetuated  by 
iniquity,  and  the  pretended  apostolic  succession  as  a  mere  figment 
of  the  brain,  with  which  the  true  churches  of  Christ  are  no  more 
concerned,  than  they  should  be  with  the  royal  race  of  the  Sophis 
of  Persia,  or  the  Mohammedan  succession  in  the  em[)ire  of  the  Ot- 
tomans. 

Some  of  the  writers  who  iiavc  transmitted  to  us  a  history  of 
these  events,  represent  the  superstitious  and  deluded  papists  of  the 
time,  as  exceedingly  jierplexed,  as  to  which  of  those  j)relendcd  vi- 
cars of  Christ  they  should  reverence  as  their  giiostly  father,  be- 


234  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  ccntury. 

lieving,  in  their  ignorance,  that  the  gates  of  heaven  were  closed 
against  all  who  did  not  maintain  an  intimate  and  spiritual  union  with 
him  to  whom  the  keys  liad  been  intrusted. 

In  the  year  1389  Urban  died,  and  was  succeeded  by  Boniface 
IX.  Clement  died  in  1394,  and  Peter  de  Luna  was  elected  by  the 
French  cardinals,  who  assumed  the  title  of  Benedict  Xlll.  The 
schism  was  evidently  as  far  from  being  healed  as  in  the  outset  of 
the  controversy,  and  it  w^as  equally  evident,  that  neither  of  these 
pontiffs  having  received  the  majority  of  the  electoral  votes  of  the 
whole  college  of  cardinals,  as  enacted  by  Gregory  X.  in  a  general 
council  convened  at  Lyons  in  1274,  the  chair  of  St.  Peter  could 
not  be  legally  occupied  by  either;  and  w'as  in  fact,  vacant.  With 
a  view  of  remedying  this  evil,  if  indeed  it  were  one,  a  general  wish 
was  expressed,  that  both  aspirants  should  withdraw  their  claims; 
and  a  new  election  be  submitted  to  the  conclave.  All  eftbrts  to  ef- 
fect a  compromise,  in  which  kings,  princes,  and  bishops,  zealously 
engaged,  were  frustrated  by  the  obstinacy  of  those  ambitious  pre- 
lates. This  measure  was  suggested  by  the  doctors  of  the  Sor- 
honne,  Paris.  The  Gallican  church  sustained  this  course ;  and  in 
a  council  at  Paris  in  1397,  when  every  plan  of  reconciliation,  and 
of  peace,  had  utterly  failed,  renounced  solemnly  its  obedience  to 
both  pontiffs,  and  thus  by  a  formal  process  declared  the  chair  of 
St.  Peter  vacant;  and  the  Church  without  a  head.  In  the  follow- 
ing year,  Benedict  was  detained  a  prisoner  in  his  palace  at  Avig- 
non, by  order  of  the  king  of  France.  Such  was  the  state  of  the 
Romish  church,  at  the  close  of  this  century. 

These  dissensions  in  the  Church  had  a  most  happy  influence  in 
weakening  the  superstitious  attachment  of  the  people  to  the  hier- 
archy of  Rome;  they  accelerated  the  change  in  public  sentiment 
in  relation  to  the  sanctity  of  its  character;  and  prepared  the  minds 
of  all  classes  of  men,  except  the  most  bigoted  of  the  clergy,  for 
that  religious  revolution  which  a  concurrence  of  circumstances  now 
pointed  to  as  a  pencil  of  light.  When  ^ve  look  back,  from  our 
own  age,  through  the  vista  of  six  hundred  years,  to  the  events  of 
the  thirteenlli  century;  and  from  that  distant  period,  trace  up  the 
progress  of  the  Reformation  to  its  consummation  in  the  sixteenth 
century;  we  cannot  but  admire  the  wisdom  and  power  of  Divine 
Providence,  in  the  successive  developments  of  moral  agencies  seem- 
ingly unconnected  with  each  other,  and  yet  all  of  them  co-Oj)era- 
ting  in  the  accomplishment  of  that  sublime  scheme  of  spii-itual  re- 
generation and  gospel  freedom,  with  which  God  had  designed  in 
his  own  proper  time,  to  bless  his  adlicted  peoi)le.  Almost  at  the 
precise  point  of  time  when  the  papal  power  was  elevated  to  its 
highest  pinnacle,  we  can  discern  in  the  concurrent  events,  the  sen- 
tence already  gone  forth  from  the  throne  of  the  Majesty  on  high, 
"  Thus  far  slialt  thou  go,  and  no  further."  When  at  the  great  Jubi- 
lee celebrated  by  Boniface,  the  most  impious  and  the  haughtiest 


14th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  235 

pontiff  who  had  opposed  and  exalted  himself  above  all  that  is  call- 
ed God,  and  who  as  God  had  sat  in  the  temple  of  God,  showing 
himself  that  he  is  God;  a  thousand  of  his  lords  drank  wine  before 
him;  and  praised  the  gods  of  gold,  and  of  silver,  of  brass,  of  iron, 
of  wood,  and  of  stone;  in  that  same  hour  came  forth  fingers  of  a 
man's  hand,  and  wrote  over  against  the  altar  upon  the  plaster  of  the 
Vatican,  ''  God  hath  numbered  thy  kingdom,  and  finished  it." 

The  removal  of  the  papal  seat  to  Avignon,  was  a  measure  un- 
expected by  the  Christian  world,  and  most  fatal  to  tlie  Romish 
hierarchy.  This  was  done  by  Clement  V.^  The  residence  of  the 
popes  out  of  Italy,  for  about  seventy  years,  not  only  strengthened 
the  factions  in  Rome  opposed  to  them,  and  occasioned  the  waste 
of  their  Italian  possessions,  but  these  pecuniary  resources  having 
been  thus  diminished,  they  were  compelled  to  resort  to  other  ex- 
traordinary means  of  replenishing  their  coffers,  commensurate  with 
their  extravagance  and  profusion  of  living.  Extortion,  and  the 
vilest  expedients  to  acquire  wealth,  formed  their  financial  system. 

The  origin  of  these  abuses  may,  however,  be  traced  from  an 
earlier  period  than  this.  They  became  more  aggravated,  from  the 
necessity  of  the  case,  and  therefore,  called  more  imperatively  for 
redress.  As  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  extravagance  of  Leo  X. 
led  to  a  most  palpable  abuse  of  the  prerogative  of  granting  indul- 
gences, which  the  popes  had  exercised  for  centuries  before,  and 
gave  the  first  strong  impulse  to  the  spirit  of  reformation  through- 
out Europe ;  so  in  this  century,  the  abuses,  and  not  the  usurpation 
of  papal  privileges,  may  be  said  to  have  wrought  a  change  in  pub- 
lic sentiment. 

The  traffic  in  indulgences  was  a  prolific  source  of  complaint, 
and  seems  to  have  been  one  of  the  grievances  which  at  tliis  period 
produced  a  general  feeling  of  discontent.  Scandalous  licenses  of 
every  description  were  publicly  offered  for  sale,  and  were  disposed 
of  at  exorbitant  prices.  The  first  year's  income  of  a  spiritual  liv- 
ing, or  Annates,  were  exacted  with  rigor  from  all  ecclesiastical 
benefices,  agreeably  to  a  tariff,  or  table  of  imposts,  enrolled  in  the 
records  of  the  Roman  chancery.     By  the  concordat,  between  the 

'Dante  haa  immortalized  the  vices  of  this  pontiff  in  his  Vision  of  Hell.  Ho  repre- 
sents tiie  popes  as  fixed  with  their  heads  downwards  in  certain  apertures,  so  tliat  no 
more  of  them  than  the  legs  appear  witiioiit,  and  on  the  soles  of  their  feet  are  seen 
burning  flames.  As  a  successor,  wiio  hris  left  iho  apostolic  chair,  appears,  he  takes 
the  place  of  one  thus  suspended  wlio  falls  into  the  gulf  below.  Nicholas  III.  tells 
the  poet  that,  "  'Midst  them  I  also  low  shall  fall,  soon  as  lie  (Boniface)  comes,  for 
whom  1  took  thee." 

''  But  already  longer  time 
Ilalli  passed,  since  my  soles  kindled,  and  1  tiius 
Upliirri'd  have  stood,  than  is  his  doom  to  stand 
Planted  witli  fiery  feet.      For  after  him, 
*One  yet  of  deeds  more  ugly  shall  ariive, 
From  forth  the  west,  a  shepherd  without  law, 
Fated  to  cover  both  his  form  and  mine.''     Canto  19t/i. 

♦Clement  V. 


236  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  centurj. 

emperor  Henry  V.  and  Calixtus  II.,  in  the  year  1122,  wliea  the 
vexed  question  of  the  right  of  investitures  was  settled;  bishops  and 
abbots  were  to  be  elected  by  the  monks  and  canons;  and  in  the 
event  of  the  chapter  not  agreeing  upon  the  choice  of  a  candidate, 
the  decision  was  reposed  in  the  emperor ;  and  the  regalia  were  to 
be  conferred  by  the  ceremony  of  the  sceptre,  and  not  of  the  ring 
and  crosier,  as  formerly.  This  interference  in  the  spiritual  aii'airs 
of  the  Church,  was  however,  conceded  to  Innocent  III.,  by  the 
emperor  Otho  IV.  This  pontiff  and  his  successors,  contrived  to 
bring  within  their  jurisdiction  the  entire  control  of  all  benetices. 
A  canonical  disqualification  in  the  peison  elected  vitiated  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  chapter,  and  the  pontif!"  pronounced  him  non-elec- 
tus.  The  next  assumption  was,  the  right  of  supplying  the  vacan- 
cy by  a  simple  nomination.  Next  followed  tlie  privilege  of  re- 
commending to  the  bishop  a  favorite  for  preferment ;  and  afterward 
the  riglit  of  presentation ;  subsequently,  the  pontiff  claimed  the 
power  of  reserving  benefices,  or  of  nominating  to  them  during  the 
lifetime  of  the  incumbents.  John  XXII.,  one  of  the  Avignon  popes, 
claimed  the  whole  ground,  and  asserted  his  right  to  all  the  benefi- 
ces in  Christendom.  The  translation  of  bishops  had  appertained 
to  the  Metropolitan  until  the  pontificate  of  Innocent  III.,  when  it  was 
vested  in  tlie  see  of  Rome.  Thus  insensibly  arose  the  long  train  of 
spiritual  prerogatives  vviiich  became  united  under  one  head,  and  in 
this  century,  pluralities,  annates,  reserves,  provisions,  expectatives, 
&c.,  became  familiar  terms  ;  and  were  higldy  offensive  to  the  com- 
munity at  large.  The  holding  of  more  than  one  benefice  was  re- 
strained by  the  twelfth  general  council  (4th  of  Latcian,)  in  1215; 
but  this  was  easily  evaded  by  papal  dispensation.  In  addition  to 
these  sources  of  revenue,  of  which  the  sale  of  indulgences  formed 
not  the  least  important  part,  may  be  mentioned  the  imposts  on  the 
clergy.  Innocent  III.  imposed  a  tribute  of  one  fortieth  of  movea- 
ble estate  in  1199,  Gregory  IX.  exacted  a  tax  from  the  clergy  in 
England,  to  protect  his  temporal  interests  in  Italy.  "By  levies  of 
money,  and  by  the  revenues  of  benefices,  that  pope  is  said  to  have 
drawn  from  the  kingdom,  the  incredible  sum  of  fifteen  millions 
sterling."  John  XXII.  levied  a  tenth  of  the  ecclesiastical  revenues 
in  France.  The  pontiffs  expected  from  the  arch-bishops  at  their 
investiture  a  donative ;  which,  although  not  demanded  as  of  right, 
was  expected  by  one  party,  and  seldom  withheld  by  the  other 
when  the  pallium  was  received. 

Such  is  a  brief  sketch  of  the  insatiable  avarice  of  the  popes  in 
this  century.  John  XXII.  is  said  to  Iiave  left  in  his  coffers,  at  his 
death,  eighteen  millions  of  florins  in  specie;  and  plate,  jewelry, 
crowns,  &c.,  valued  at  seven  millions  more.^     These  exactions  ex- 

'  Now  Peter  and  .John  went  »ip  to;^ctlier  into  tlie  temple  at  tlio  hour  of  prayer. 
And  a  certain  man  lame  from  bis  niollier's  womb  was  carried,  wliom  lliey  liiid  daily 
at  the  gate  of  the  temple  which  is  called  I3t;auliful,  to  ask  alms  of  Ihciii  thai  cuter- 


14th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  237 

cited  general  indignation ;  and  tlie  people  could  no  longer  bear  in 
silence,  those  unjust  and  onerous  impositions.  In  the  year  1350, 
the  parliament  ot"  England  passed  tlie  famous  statute  of  Provisors} 
"  It  declared  all  elections  and  collations  free;  and  that,  if  any  pro- 
vision or  reservation  be  made  by  the  court  of  Rome,  the  king  shall 
for  that  turn  have  the  collation  of  such  benehce,  if  it  be  of  eccle- 
siastical election  or  patronage.  This  was  to  correct  the  abuses 
which  had  arisen  from  the  spiritual  usurpations  of  the  popes.  As 
an  evidence  of  the  extent  to  which  these  had  been  carried,  it  is 
stated,  that  some  clerks  enjoyed  more  than  twenty  ben(;fices  by  the 
papal  dispensation.  It  was  however,  soon  after  the  enactment  of 
this  law,  discovered  that  its  provisions  were  inefficient  barriers 
against  the  encroachments  of  the  pontiffs,  as  they  were  successful- 
ly evaded  by  the  ingenuity  and  artifice  of  the  clergy  in  collusion 
with  the  court  of  Rome. 

In  the  following  reign  (the  2d  Richard,)  the  statute  of  Prczmu- 
nire-  was  passed,  by  which,  "  all  persons  bringing  papal  bulls,  for 
translation  of  bishops,  and  other  enumerated  purposes,  into  the 
kingdom,  were  subjected  to  the  penalties  of  forfeiture  and  perpet- 
ual imprisonment."  This,  with  the  statute  of  Provisors,  remedied 
effectually  the  evils  of  papal  usurpations. 

The  first  encroachment  on  the  civil  rights,  in  the  kingdom  of 
England,  by  the  court  of  Rome,  was  in  the  reign  of  William  the 
Conqueror.  That  prince  peremptorily  refused  to  do  homage  to 
Gregory  VII.  as  his  feudal  lord ;  but  from  motives  of  policy  he 
permitted  his  legate  a  latere  to  levy  a  taxation  on  his  subjects. — - 
This  was  called  Peter-pence,  from  the  circumstance  of  its  being- 
collected  on  the  festival  of  St.  Peter.  He  thus  yielded  the  princi- 
ple and  the  power,  while  he  tenaciously  clung  to  the  shadow  of 
this  arbitrary  pretension.  The  claim  was  in  fact,  founded  upon  the 
feudal  system,  which  the  popes  were  artful  enough  to  engraft  upon 
the  ecclesiastical  constitution.  Hence  arose  the  spiritual  benefices 
in  the  Church,  as  analagous  to  the  bcnelicia  or  estates  held  by  the 
feudatories  as  voluntary  gifts  from  their  superiors.  This  spii-itual 
fee  was  naturally  accompanied  with  the  incumbrances  attached  to 
the  temporal  estate  with  which  it  corresponded,  as  the  ceremony 

cd  into  the  temple,  wlio  seeing'  Peter  anil  John  about  to  go  into  the  temple,  asked  an 
alms.  And  Peter,  fastening  his  eyes  upon  liiin  with  John,  said,  Look  on  us.  And 
lie  gave  heed  unto  them,  expecting  to  receive  something  of  tliein.  Then  Peter  said, 
Silver  and  p;old  have.  I  none. ;  but  such  as  I  have  give  I  thee  ;  In  the  name  of  Jesus 
Ciirisl  of  Nazareth  rise  up  and  walli."     Acts  iii. 

'  ''  A  provisor  is  a  person  appointed  by  the  pope,  to  a  benefice  before  the  deatii  of 
the  incumbent,  and  to  the  prejudice  of  the  rightful  patron."  "  Collation  is  the  pre- 
sentation of  a  clergyman  to  a  benefice  liy  a  bisliop.'' 

-  Pramunire,  to  fortify  beforehand.  Tiie  writ  by  which  tlie  prosecution  or  suit 
was  instituted,  was  entitled  a  Pnvinunire  facias,  which  was  a  corruption  of  the  term 
Prmmnneri,  &c.  Its  object  was  to  forwarn  tlie  defendant  to  appear  and  to  answer  in 
court  the  charges  alledged  against  him. 


138  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  ccnturj* 

of  investiture,  escheat,  rent  or  tithes,  oath  of  fealty,  or  canonical 
obedience,  annates,  or  a  year's  income  of  the  spiritual  living,  and 
innumerable  taxations,  in  imitation  of  the  aids  and  taliiages  paid  by 
the  vassal  to  his  lord.  The  avaricious  exactions,  and  progressive 
usurpations  of  the  popes,  as  spiritual  lords,  have  been  adverted  to. 
To  check  the  further  progress  of  these  grievous  impositions,  and 
to  restore  the  rightful  authority  of  the  crown,  Edward  I.  assumed 
the  first  decided  stand,  not  only  by  taxing  the  clergy  within  his  do- 
minions ;  but  by  strengthening  the  statutes  of  mortmain^  which  re- 
strained the  acquisition  of  estates  by  ecclesiastical  corporations ; 
and  declaring  it  an  act  of  treason  in  a  subject  to  procure  a  papal 
bull  of  excommunication  against  a  citizen  of  the  Realm.  These 
measures  of  resistance  against  the  usurpations  of  the  Romish 
church,  laid  the  foundation  of  the  further  legislative  provisions  en- 
acted in  the  reign  of  Edward  111.,  and  of  his  successor,  Richard 
II.  Another  statute  was  passed  in  the  next  century,  under  the 
usurper  Henry  IV.,  of  the  house  of  Lancaster,  which  declared  all 
persons  accepting  provisions  from  the  pope,  subject  to  the  penalties 
of  a  Procmunire}  Such  were  the  eflbrts  in  England,  to  cast  off 
these  badges  of  servitude  to  a  foreign  potentate.  Martin  V.  pub- 
lished a  bull  against  this  parliamentary  act,  which  he  declared  to 
be  "  execrabile  statulum,''''  and  commanded  arch-bishop  Chicheley 
to  have  it  repealed. 

In  the  twelfth  century,  the  emperor  Frederick  Barbarossa,  at- 
tempted to  impose  restraints  on  the  alienation  of  beneficia  or  fiefs, 
either  to  the  church  or  others,  without  the  consent  of  the  superior 
loi-ds ;  but  this  wise  and  salutary  provision  was  rendered  nugatory 
by  the  paramount  authority  of  the  pontiffs.  In  the  beginning  of 
this  century,  thirty-five  vacancies  are  said  to  have  been  filled  with- 
in one  diocese,  by  prebendaries  not  appointed  by  the  regular  pa- 
tron. In  the  middle  of  the  last,  or  thirteenth  century,  these  spirit- 
ual usurpations  and  abuses  had  become  so  oppressive,  that  Louis 
IX.  of  France,  to  correct  the  evil  within  liis  kingdom,  issued  an 
edict,  known  as  the  Pragmatic  sanction,  securing  to  all  patrons,  the 
right  of  collating  to  benefices  within  their  respective  jurisdictions, 
as  prescribed  by  the  canons ;  to  all  churches  the  right  of  free  elec- 
tion; and  to  the  king  and  the  national  church,  their  previous  exer- 
cise of  the  privilege  of  expressing  their  assent  or  disapproval,  be- 
fore any  pecuniary  exactions  were  levied  by  the  pope.  This  re- 
straining edict  was,  however,  either  evaded,  or  openly  disregarded, 
by  such  arbitrary  pontiffs  as  Clement  IV.,  Boniface  VIII.,  or  Clem- 

'Tt  will  be  obperved  lliat  tliis  term,  first  intended  as  tlic  definition  of  a  particular 
offense,  or  of  tlie  writ  by  which  a  proseculion  was  commenced  for  tlic  iillcdgcd  com- 
mission nf  that  offense,  was  extended  to  penalties  annexed  to  many  oilier  oll'enscs, 
which  had  no  relation  to  that  original  oflVnse,  and  tiiesc  were  declared  liy  the  sever- 
al statutes  to  be  acts  of  prninninirc.  .So  that  the  term  has  been  apfiiied  generally  to 
offenses,  punishable  by  confiscation  and   imprisonment,  at  the  will  of  the  sovereign. 


1 4th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  239 

ent  V.  Tliis  last  assumed  the  broad  and  comprehensive  ground, 
that  "  The  pope,  as  universal  patron,  might  freely  bestow  ail  ec- 
clesiastical benetices."  The  edict  of  Louis  has  been  considered, 
notwithstanding,  the  corner-stone  of  the  franchises  and  immunities 
which  the  Gallican  church  has  boasted  of  enjoying,  independent  of 
the  court  of  Rome.  The  peculiar  privileges  which  it  more  cer- 
tainly acquired  afterward,  and  still  maintains,  sprung  out  of  the 
schism  in  the  Romish  church,  in  this  and  the  following  century. 
This,  however,  belongs  more  properly  to  the  history  of  the  six- 
teenth century. 

It  is  evident,  from  these  facts,  that  a  general  disquietude  under 
the  oppressions  of  the  pontiff,  prevailed  in  Europe  at  this  period; 
and  tliat  there  grew  up  a  spirit  of  resistance,  which  spiritual  tyran- 
ny and  [)ower  could  no  longer  intimidate  or  suppress.  The  crisis 
had  arrived  ;  and  that  tyranny  had  become  so  oppressive,  that  pow- 
er so  paramount  to  all  political  institutions,  that  one  of  two  alterna- 
tives was  submitted  to  the  governments  and  potentates  of  Europe, 
either  to  succumb  like  vassals  to  the  supremacy  of  spiritual  Rome, 
and  quietly  subject  their  necks  to  the  servile  yoke,  or  to  resist  its 
usurpations,  and  claim  as  of  natural  right,  their  civil  and  religious 
liberty.  In  the  conflict,  England,  which  had  been  disgraced  by 
the  craven  spirit  and  pusillanimity  of  her  John,  displayed  in  tlie  1st 
and  3d  of  her  Edwards,  a  steadfastness  of  purpose,  and  a  spirit  of 
national  independence,  which  enabled  her  at  once  to  unnerve  the 
arm  of  her  oppressor,  and  to  humble  the  lofty  tone  of  the  papal 
hierarchy.  "  When  the  holy  see  resented  the  proceedings  of  the 
English  parliament,  and  Pope  Urban  V.  attempted  to  revive  the 
vassalage  and  annual  rent  to  which  king  John  had  subjected  his 
kingdom,  it  was  unanimously  agreed  by  all  the  estates  of  the  realm 
in  parliament  assembled,  that  king  John's  donation  was  null  and 
void,  being  without  the  concurrence  of  parliament,  and  contrary  to 
his  coronation  oath ;  and  all  the  temporal  nobility  and  commons  en- 
gaged, that  if  the  pope  should  endeavor  by  process  or  otherwise, 
to  maintain  these  usurpations,  they  would  resist  and  withstand  him 
with  all  their  power." ^ 

As  early  as  the  seventh  century,  Boniface  V.  declared  the  sanc- 
tuaries of  public  worship,  asylums  for  fugitives  from  justice.  This 
was  the  introduction  of  clerical  privileges.  In  the  eighth  century, 
Charlemagne  permitted  the  bishops  to  have  prisons.  This  vested 
in  the  church  a  temporal  power,  and  enabled  it  to  enforce  its  judg- 
ments by  the  aid  of  the  civil  magistrate.  Indeed  as  early  as  the 
time  of  Constantine  the  Great,  the  officers  of  the  government  were 
ordered  to  enforce  the  judicial  sentence  of  the  bishops.  To  ex- 
tend still  further  the  ecclesiastical  jurisdiction,  the  court  of  Rome 
procured  the  forgery  of  an  edict,  which  was  interpolated  in  the 

'Blackstone's  Commentaries. 


240  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  ceiiturj. 

Theodosian  code,  vesting  in  the  episcopal  tribunal,  a  power  to  de- 
cide all  controversies  even  of  a  civil  nature,  if  referred  to  volun- 
tarily by  either  party.  This  fraudulent  record  was  said  to  have 
been  imposed  upon  Charlemagne  as  an  authentic  document.  The 
ecclesiastical  councils  in  the  hfth  century  prohibited,  under  a  pen- 
alty of  excommunication,  the  bishops  and  priests  i'rom  referring 
their  cases  in  controversy  to  civil  tribunals.  Justinian  in  the  cen- 
tury after,  decreed  that  all  matters  in  litigation,  in  which  any  of  the 
clergy  were  defendants,  should  be  decided  by  the  diocesans ;  and 
by  this  emperor,  bishops  were  declared  not  to  be  amenable  to  the 
civil  tribunals.  But  about  the  close  of  the  eighth  century,  the 
privileges  of  the  clergy  were  secured  by  an  imperial  decree  of 
Charlemagne,  which  declared,  "  That  clerks  of  the  ecclesiastical 
order  who  shall  commit  an  oilense,  shall  be  tried  by  ecclesiastics 
and  not  by  laymen."  This  restraint  upon  the  secular  arm,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  clergy,  did  not  restrain  the  latter  from  interfering  in  the 
temporal  concerns  of  the  civil  government.  At  this  period,  an  ec- 
clesiastical council  in  England,  undertook  to  decree  that  a  prince 
of  illegitimate  birth  could  not  ascend  the  throne.  The  privileges 
to  which  we  have  alluded  were  regarded,  however,  as  personal 
exemptions,  or  as  I'ights  of  a  peculiar  character;  and  not  as  vest- 
ing in  the  church  any  prerogatives  independent  of,  or  above  the 
government  of  the  state ;  to  which  indeed,  in  the  course  of  time, 
they  were  by  a  stretch  of  arbitrary  power  extended.  The  emper- 
ors constantly  exercised  a  control  over  the  ecumenical  councils, 
and  over  the  elections  of  the  pontiff's  themselves,  until  a  very  late 
period.  It  may  be  inferred,  that  the  powers  of  the  bishops  were 
thus  greatly  enlarged.  In  the  ninth  century,  they  had  arrived  at 
their  highest  elevation ;  and  were  invested  with  greater  privileges 
and  dignities,  than  they  afterward  enjoyed.  Even  as  late  as  the 
twelfth  century,  in  England,  that  ecclesiastical  order  claimed  the 
right  of  deciding  upon  a  question  of  legal  accession  to  the  throne. 
But  from  the  tenth  century,  the  popes  gradually  acquired  an  as- 
cendency, whicli  has  constantly  since  that  period,  been  maintained 
over  all  orders  of  the  Romish  church. 

The  rise,  progress,  and  consummation  of  this  privilege  of  the 
clergy,  form  a  remarkable  feature  of  ecclesiastical  history.  What 
was  conceded  as  a  favor,  and  accepted  with  thankfulness,  was  in 
time,  tenaciously  retained  as  a  right,  and  exercised  under  every 
circumstance  of  aggravation.  "  Touch  not  mine  anointed,  and  do 
my  prophets  no  harm,"  were  construed  as  conferring  a  divine  right; 
and  this,  first  attached  to  the  highest  order  of  the  clergy,  was  at 
length  extended  to  the  most  inferior  officers  in  the  church;  and  by 
a  latitude  of  construction,  eventually  to  such  as  were  strictly  lay- 
man. Tills  was  assumed  to  be  a  right  so  inherent  and  unalienable, 
that  as  Innocent  III.  affirmed,  "  the  clergy  could  not  be  deprived 
of  it  with  their  own  consent." 


i4th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  241 

The  j3rivileg"es  of  the  clerijy,  althoug-h  commencing  as  early  as 
the  time  of  Constantine,  were  not  universally  established  for  sev- 
eral centuries  after.  The  principle  of  ecclesiastical  pre-eminence 
forms  the  basis  of  the  constitutions  of  the  Romish  church.  The 
language  of  the  Decretals  maintains,  that  "  The  laws  of  the  civil 
power  cannot  reach  the  affairs  of  the  Church,  or  the  persons  of  the 
clergy,  nor  can  they  operate  to  the  prejudice  of  their  property; 
that  the  sacerdotal  orders  are  to  be  honored,  and  not  judged,  by 
princes."  From  the  admission  of  this  principle,  the  persons  of 
the  clergy  were  not  only  esteemed  sacred,  but  were  exempt  from 
all  judicial  process  in  the  civil  courts.  Accompanying  these  per- 
sonal immunities  were  the  ecclesiastical  tribunals,  to  exercise  ex- 
clusive jurisdiction  in  all  spiritual  matters.  Thus,  in  a  short  time 
after  the  admission  of  the  principle,  we  find  ecclesiastical  courts 
established  in  almost  all  the  states  of  Europe.  It  was  not,  how- 
ever, until  the  reign  of  William,  that  they  assumed  in  England,  any- 
thing of  a  distinct  form,  and  an  organization  separate  from  the  civil 
tribunals.  The  withdrawal  of  spiritual  causes  from  the  secular 
courts,  and  the  introduction  of  the  canon  law  into  the  ecclesiastical 
courts,  over  wliich  the  bishops  presided,  as  the  rule  of  their  deci- 
sions constituted  the  first  important  innovation  in  the  judicial  insti- 
tutions of  the  Anglo-Saxons.  Although  the  ancient  law  was  re- 
stored by  his  son  Henry  I.,  it  was  again  abrogated  by  his  successor 
Ste[)hen,  through  the  influence  of  the  clergy.  At  the  accession  of 
that  usurper,  in  the  year  1135,  may  be  dated  the  firm  establishment 
in  that  kingdom,  of  clerical  exemptions  from  the  secular  arm,  and 
independent  spiritual  judicatories.  Henry  II.,  by  the  constitutions 
of  Clarendon,  in  1164,  endeavored  to  reduce  the  powers  and  priv- 
ileges of  the  ecclesiastical  orders  within  a  narrower  compass;  but 
his  efforts  were  defeated  by  the  arrogance  of  Thomas  Becket, 
arch-bishop  of  Canterbury,  and  the  resolute  resistance  of  the  Pope, 
Alexander  III.  Henry  was  borne  down  by  the  superstitious  igno- 
rance of  the  times,  and  the  example  of  his  cotemporary,  Louis  VII. 
of  France,  who  yielded  to  the  exorbitant  pretensions  of  the  pope. 

It  is  not  WMthin  my  design  to  describe  the  several  ecclesiastical 
courts  established  in  England ;  as  a  knowledge  of  their  structure 
and  prerogatives  can  be  obtained  from  higher  and  better  autliori- 
ties.  It  may  however,  be  remarked,  that  one  of  the  objects  of  the 
constitutions  of  Clarendon,  was  to  constitute  the  king,  by  the  ju- 
dicial tribunals  of  the  nation,  the  highest  judicatory  in  tlie  king- 
dom, to  whom  appeals  may  be  carried  up  from  the  prerogative 
court  for  final  adjudication.  But  this  was  never  accomplished  until 
the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  "  when  all  the 
jurisdiction  usurped  by  the  pope,  in  matters  ecclesiastical,  was  re- 
stored to  the  crown,  to  which  it  originally  belonged."  In  th.'^  I'cign 
of  Elizabeth,  the  court  of  the  king's  high  commission  in  ecclesias- 
tical causes,  was  established  "to  vindicate  the  dignity  and  jieace 
16 


242  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  century. 

of  the  Church,  (then  Protestant,)  by  reforming,  ordering,  and  cor- 
recting, the  ecclesiastical  state  and  persons,  and  all  manner  of  er- 
rors, heresies,  schisms,  abuses,  otfenses,  contempts,  and  enormities." 
But  the  powers  exercised  by  the  commissioners  in  that  reign,  and 
those  succeeding,  were  so  arbitrary  and  oppressive,  tliat  the  statute 
was  repealed,  and  the  court  abolished,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  1. 

To  return  from  this  digression  to  the  ecclesiastical  courts  and 
the  claims  of  the  clergy.  It  was  admitted  that  those  of  the  cleri- 
cal orders,  distinguished  by  their  dress  and  tonsure,  were  entitled 
to  the  privilegium  clericale,  or  benefit  of  clergy.  This  privilege 
was  soon  extended  to  all  wlio  could  read,  as  at  that  period,  learn- 
ing was  confined  altogether  to  that  class  of  persons.  This  privi- 
lege exempted  them  from  the  jurisdiction  of  lay  tribunals ;  but  in 
England  it  extended  to  cases  of  felony  only.  It  consisted  in  this, 
that  a  clerk,  condemned  by  the  civil  tribunal,  and  claiming  his  priv- 
ilege in  arrest  of  judgment,  was  delivered  over  to  the  ecclesiastical 
court,  for  a  new  trial,  or,  as  it  was  termed,  his  expurgation.  Be- 
fore this  tribunal  the  culprit  was  seldom  convicted;  and  this  second 
trial  was  but  a  mockery  of  justice.  Laymen  who  claimed  this 
privilege,  were  branded  in  the  thumb  after  their  conviction,  and 
then  delivered  over  to  the  ecclesiastical  court.  Expurgation  re- 
stored the  accused,  no  matter  wliat  the  nature  of  his  ollense  might 
have  been,  to  a  new  and  innocent  man.  And  thus,  under  this  priv- 
ilege, the  clergy  committed  the  most  abominable  crimes,  and  even 
murder,  with  entire  impunity. 

The  ecclesiastical  tribunals  did  not  confine  themselves  to  the  ad- 
judication of  cases  strictly  spiritual.  About  the  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  century,  they  began  to  extend  their  authority  beyond  their 
prescribed  limits;  and  from  that  period  their  usurpations  were  con- 
tinued until  they  obtained  almost  an  entire  jurisdiction  over  all  per- 
sons and  things.  They  became  courts  of  conscience,  and  in  al- 
most every  controverted  question,  they  assumed  a  right  of  decision. 
Contracts,  whether  matrimonial  or  otherwise,  ])crjury,  sacrilege, 
incest,  usury,  probate  of  wills,  and  the  distribution  of  estates  un- 
der them,  &c.,  were  all  in  time,  brought  within  the  sphere  of  their 
adjudication.  By  these  courts,  established  in  every  state  of  Eu- 
rope, and  from  which  the  only  appeal  was  to  the  pope  himself,  the 
Romish  church  acquired  a  control  over  the  persons  and  property 
of  the  subjects  of  the  most  powerful  princes  in  Christendom.  In 
the  beginning  of  this  century,  the  spiritual  and  the  temporal  domi- 
nation of  the  pontiiTs,  was  systematized  and  complete.  Civil  and 
religious  liberty  was  a  mere  phantom.  From  the  potentate  to  the 
lowest  subjects,  all  were  brought  within  the  reach  of  the  sj)iritual 
arm  ;  none  could  escape  the  sentence  which  issued  from  the  throne 
of  the  Vatican.  But  happily,  events  presaged  a  moral  regenera- 
tion ;  and  a  new  era  of  spiritual  light  and  civil  freedom  had  al- 


14tli  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  243 

ready  commenced.     We  will  here  resume  the  general  history  of 
the  Church. 

During  the  pontificate  of  John  XXII.,  wlio  was  raised  to  the  pa- 
pal throne  after  an  interregnum  of  two  years,  a  contest  for  the  im- 
perial throne,  arose  between  Lewis  of  Bavaria  and  Fiederick,  duke 
of  Austria.  John,  who  maintained  with  his  predecessors,  that,  "All 
disputes  among  princes  were  to  be  referred  to  the  pope;  that  if 
either  party  refused  to  obey  the  sentence  of  Rome,  lie  was  to  be 
excommunicated  and  deposed  ;  and  that  every  Christian  sovereign 
was  bound  (o  attack  the  refractory  delinquent,  under  the  pain  of  a 
similar  forfeiture,"  proceeded  to  excommunicate  Lewis,  wiio  had 
vanquished  his  competitor,  because  he  had  presumed  to  exercise  an 
imperial  authority  without  having  first  obtained  the  papal  sanction. 
This  was  disregarded  by  Lewis,  and  John  pronounced  against  him 
a  sentence  of  deposition,  and  declared  the  throne  vacant.  The 
haughty  pontiff",  who  would  have  excited  another  civil  war  in  Ger- 
many to  sustain  his  ridiculous  pretensions,  was  in  his  turn,  de- 
nounced as  a  heretic  by  the  victorious  Lewis,  and  the  chair  of  St. 
Peter  \vas  filled  by  Nicholas  V.,  elected  under  the  influence  of  the 
emperor.  Nicholas  retained  his  seat  at  Rome,  whilst  John  resided 
at  Avignon.  After  two  years,  Nicholas  voluntarily  resigned,  and 
delivered  himself  to  John,  who,  with  base  ingratitude,  imprisoned 
him  during  the  i-emainder  of  his  lite. 

The  heresy  of  which  John  was  accused  by  the  emperor,  and 
described  as  his  beatific  vision,  was  the  opinion  advanced  by  him, 
that  "  The  souls  of  the  faithful,  in  their  intermediafe  state,  were  per- 
mitted to  behold  Christ  as  man,  but  not  the  face  of  God,  or  the  di- 
vine nature,  before  their  re-union  with  the  body,  at  the  last  day." 
This  creed  of  the  holy  father,  and  infallible  bead  of  the  Church, 
became  a  sui)ject  of  animated  controversy  among  the  doctors,  and 
at  length  was  terminated  by  a  formal  condemnation  of  its  ortho- 
doxy. John,  with  his  usual  obstinacy,  adhered  to  it  until  the  close 
of  his  life,  when,  fearing  that  he  would  be  deemed  a  heretic  after 
his  death,  he  consented  to  submit  to  the  judgment  of  the  Church; 
and  by  this  compromise  escaped,  without  in  fact  having  recanted 
his  opinion,  the  opprobrium  which  would  inevitably  have  been  at- 
tached to  his  memory.  He  made  some  amends  however  for  his 
heretical  notions,  by  ordering  all  Christians  to  add  to  their  prayers 
the  words,  wMth  which  the  angel  Gabriel  saluted  the  Virgin  JNlary, 
"  Hail  highly  favored,"  &c. 

This  pontilf  was  engaged  through  the  greater  j)art  of  his  reign 
in  an  angry  controversy  with  tiie  Spirituals  of  the  Franciscan  order. 
This  seems  to  have  commenced  with  an  order,  requiring  them  to 
lay  aside  their  short,  straight  habits,  with  the  small  hoods.  This 
dress  distinguished  them  from  the  less  rigid  branch  of  Franciscans, 
called  "  The  brethren  of  the  community."  They  insisted  that  this 
particular  habit  had  been  adopted  I)y  their  founder  St.  Francis, 


244  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  ceiiturj. 

who  it  appears,  was  directed  immediately  by  the  inspiration  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  This  interference  of  the  pontiff,  therefore,  was  against 
the  letter  and  spirit  of  the  gospel,  and  was  unauthorized,  and  as  a 
matter  of  conscience,  could  not  command  their  obedience.  These 
miserable  and  ignorant  fanatics,  whose  only  oti'ense  appears  to  have 
been  a  superstitious  attachment  to  their  peculiar  dress,  an  aversion 
to  the  comforts  of  life,  and  an  obstinate  refusal  to  comply  with  the 
requirement  of  the  pope,  were  persecuted  with  envenomed  rage. 
Their  leader  Delitiosi,  was  immured  in  a  prison,  where  he  died 
from  the  severity  of  his  treatment,  and  four  of  his  adherents  were 
seized  and  burnt.  This  cruel  and  wicked  execution  exasperated 
the  whole  party  of  the  Spirituals;  and  they  boldly  declared  that 
John  was  unworthy  of  tlie  pontifical  otlice,  and  that  he  was  the 
anti-Christ  predicted  of  in  Scripture.  This  heretical  opinion 
brought  down  upon  them  a  more  relentless  persecution.  The  in- 
quisition, which  was  under  the  government  of  the  Dominicans,  their 
bitter  enemies,  was  directed  to  pursue  them  with  the  venge  ance  of 
the  insulted  church,  and  they  were  every  where  arrested,  and  con- 
signed to  the  torture  and  to  the  flames. 

In  vindication  of  their  bigoted  attachment  to  poverty,  they  in- 
sisted, that  neither  Christ  nor  his  apostles  ever  exercised  an  abso- 
lute right  of  property  over  any  thing  they  possessed.  This  ag- 
gravated their  first  oiiense.  John  was  avaricious,  and  had  amassed 
immense  wealth  by  his  extortions.  This  was  deemed,  therefore,  a 
direct  condemnation  of  himself.  For  this  heresy,  fresh  fires  were 
kindled,  and  new  tortures  were  devised,  to  suppress  a  tenet  which 
mother  church  pronounced  "  A  pestdential,  erroneous,  damnable, 
and  blasphemous  doctrine,  subversive  of  the  Catliolic  (popish) 
faith."  Thus  persecuted  Avith  the  extremest  rigor,  these  innocent 
religionists  fled  to  the  dominions  of  Lewis  of  Bavaria,  who  extend- 
ed to  them  his  protection.  From  Munich  they  published  their  in- 
vectives against  John.  Among  them  were  men  of  literary  arquire- 
ments,  sucii  as  Marsilius  of  Padua,  Occam,  Bonagratia,  and  oth- 
ers ;  who  directly  attacked,  by  theiv  satirical  writings,  and  by  more 
labored  treatises,  the  power  and  authority  of  the  popes. 

These  events  appear  of  little  importance  in  the  general  history 
of  the  Church ;  hut  they  obtain  an  interest  from  their  connection 
with  the  occurrences  of  this  century,  which  unquestionably  ad- 
vanced the  progress  of  religious  reformation.  The  S[)irituals,  as  a 
body,  do  not  deserve  the  title  of  witnesses  of  the  truth;  for  they 
were  not;  but  rather,  witnesses  of  the  gross  errors,  the  corrup- 
tions, and  domineering  temper  of  popery.  Although  they  certain- 
ly did  not  suffer  persecution  for  the  faith,  their  contests  with  John, 
exposed  the  fallacy  of  the  papal  pretensions,  and  weakened  the  su- 
perstitious reverence  for  the  character  and  persons  of  the  pontiffs. 
It  was  evident  that  a  fatal  blow  had  been  inflicted  on  the  Ivomish 
hierarchy.     As  one  of  the  concurrent  causes  which  produced  the 


14lh  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  245 

Reformation  in  llie  sixteenth  century,  the  controversy  between 
John  and  the  Franciscans  could  not  with  propriety,  have  been 
passed  over  in  silence,  hinunierahlc  parties,  whether  properly  or 
not,  termed  religious,  arose  in  tliis  centui-y ;  such  as  the  order  of 
the  Apostolic  Clerks,  the  Barlaamites,  the  Flagellants,  the  Dan- 
cers, &.C.  &.C.,  but  neither  their  creed  nor  discipline  was  calculated 
to  purii'y  the  Church. 

In  this  century  was  introduced  the  festival  to  perpetuate  the 
memory  of  the  lance  which  pierced  (he  side  of  our  Savior,  the 
nails  by  which  he  was  fastened  to  the  cross,  and  the  crown  of 
thorns  whic;h  was  put  upon  his  head.  Innocent  V.  is  entitled  to 
the  honor  of  having,  about  the  close  of  the  last  century,  given  the 
first  suggestion  to  this  absurd  and  superstitious  ceremony.  Bene- 
dict XII.,  not  to  be  outdone  by  his  predecessor,  in  wickedness  and 
folly,  instituted  anotiier  to  commemorate  the  wounds  inflicted  by 
the  spear.  This  seems  to  have  been  suggested  by  the  Franciscans, 
w^ho  asserted  that  Christ  had  impressed  upon  the  sides  of  their 
founder,  St.  Francis,  iive  marks,  or  stigmas,  as  representations  of 
those  he  liad  received  at  tlie  time  of  his  crucilixion.  This  fabrica- 
tion was  not  only  countenanced  by  the  popes,  but  tiiey  publicly 
maintained  it  by  their  bulls,  which  silenced  all  denial  of  its  truth. 
The  expression,  Ave  Maria,  &c.,  in  the  prayers  of  the  faithful, 
originated  with  John  XXII.  These  facts  are  sufficient  to  show 
into  what  a  corrupt  state  the  Church  had  fallen-,  and  how  much  a 
reform  in  its  head  and  in  all  its  members  was  absolutely  required 
to  rescue  the  last  traces  of  piety  and  vital  religion  from  entire  ob- 
literation. Popery  was  not  only  at  war  with  spiritual  matters,  and 
laboring  to  etface  the  great  truths  of  the  gospel,  but  it  armed  itself 
against  the  intellectual  efforts  of  the  age.  Asculanus,  the  physi- 
cian of  John  XXII.,  and  celebrated  as  a  philosopher  and  mathema- 
tician, was  delivered  up  to  the  inquisition  for  having  exhibited  some 
experiments  in  mechanics,  which  the  ignorance  of  the  time  could 
not  comprehend,  and  therefore  imputed  to  the  j)owers  of  witch- 
craft. Nothing  proves  more  strongly  the  general  corruption  of 
morals,  and  the  debased  condition  of  the  Church,  than  the  unbound- 
ed influence  which  the  mendicant  friars  exercised  over  all  classes 
of  men,  except  those  orders  of  the  clergy  wliose  interests  were  in- 
juriously afl'ected  by  the  control  which  those  monks  had  acquired 
over  the  [)ublic  mind.  They  occupied  almost  exclusively,  the  con- 
fessional chairs.  A  general  bellel"  prevailed  that  an  association 
with  tliose  monastic  orders,  secured  the  favor  of  heaven.  The  dy- 
ing injunctions  of  the  religious,  exacted  a  promise  from  their  friends, 
that  their  bodies  would  be  wrapped  in  the  tattered  garments  of  the 
mendicants,  and  dcj)Osited  in  their  cemeteries.  IJishops,  clergy, 
and  doctors,  were  arrayed  in  their  opposition  to  them ;  but  the 
popes  held  over  them  tlie  shield  of  their  protection.     The  Spirit- 


246  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  cetitury. 

uals  only,  who  were  the  least  corrupt  of  those  orders,  were  little 
favored  by  their  ghostly  fathers, 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

"  The  Alexians  who  constantly  employed  themselves  about  fu- 
nerals, had  their  rise  at  Antwerp ;  at  which  place,  about  the  year 
1300,  some  honest,  pious  laymen  formed  a  society.  On  account  of 
their  extraordinary  temperance  and  modesty,  they  were  styled 
Moderatists ;  and  also  Lollards,^  from  their  attendance  on  funeral 
obsequies.  From  their  cells  they  were  termed  "  Cellite  Brethren^ 
These  associations  seem  to  have  been  actuated  at  first  by  motives 
of  charity ;  and  were  organized  for  the  purpose  of  discharging 
those  duties  to  the  sick  and  dying  poor,  which  the  clergy  entirely 
neglected.  In  the  obsequies  of  the  dead,  they  were  accustomed  to 
chant  a  solemn  dirge,  and  for  this  reason,  they  were  called  Lollards. 
As  the  term  Beghard  was  applied  to  a  person  remarkable  for  piety, 
this  sect  was  sometimes  distinguished  by  that  title.  "  In  all  the 
old  records,  from  the  eleventh  century,  these  two  words  are  synony- 
mous." The  members  of  this  charitable  and  religious  community, 
were  particularly  favored  by  the  people;  but  by  reason  of  their 
moral  deportment,  and  exemplary  piety,  they  were  extremely  odi- 
ous to  the  clergy,  and  especially  to  the  mendicant  friars.  Hence, 
a  canon  of  Liege,  referring  to  them,  speaks  of  them  as  "  Certain 
strolling  hypocrites,  who  are  called  Lollards,  or  praisers  of  God," 
&c. 

The  religious  tenets  of  the  Lollards  were  better  known  from  the 
professions  of  their  most  distinguished  leader,  Walter,  a  native  of 
Mentz,  on  the  Rhine.  He  is  called  by  a  cotemporary  writer,  Wal- 
ter Lohareus,  or  Lolhardus.  Whether  he  was  the  founder  of  this 
sect,  is  a  controverted  question,  which  appears  not  decided  at  the 
present  day.  The  surname  was  given  to  him  on  account  of  his 
doctrines.  Differing  from  the  Romish  church,  he  was  called  Lol- 
hardus, or  a  Lollard,  an  epithet  at  that  time  of  great  antiquity.  He 
was  also  called  by  some  a  Beghard,  and  by  others,  a  JMinorite. 

Walter  the  Lollard,  went  to  England  in  the  year  1315.  He 
there  propagated  his  doctrines;  and  had  many  adherents.  His  fol- 
lowers in  that  country,  were  no  doubt,  called  Lollards,  from  that 
title  having  been  attached  to  him  before  he  left  Germany.  He  is 
mentioned,  by  some  historians,  as  a  barb  or  pastor  of  the  Walden- 
ses;  whicli  leaves  the  inference,  that  his  religious  tenets  were  sim- 
ilar to  those  of  the  Vaudois.     So  far  as  those  tenets  have  been 

^Lollcn,  signifies  "  to  singr  with  a.  low  voire."  to  whidi  was  added,  ns  a  tcrminn- 
tion,  ajj;reeably  to  Iiigli  Dutcli  dialect,  the  syllable,  hard,  lienco  Lollenliard,  and  by 
contraction,  Lollhard.  Such  is  the  derivation  of  the  word  Lnllard.  'I'liis  was  a 
term  applied  to  many  sectaries,  having  no  connection  in  their  tenets.  Sometimes 
Lollard  and  Beghard  were  alike  applied  to  liie  same  sect,  as  terms  of  reproach. 
Mosheim. 


14th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  247 

transmitted  to  us,  it  appears  that  he  rejected  the  sacrifice  of  the 
mass,  extreme  unction,  penances  for  sin,  and  infant  baptism.  He 
maintained  that  Christ  ottered  up  once  for  all  a  full  and  sufficient 
sacrifice  for  the  salvation  of  all  believers;  and  that  baptism  was 
not  essential  to  the  salvation  of  infants,  dissenting  from  the  Romish 
church,  which  affirms,  as  a  matter  of  faith,  that  all  infants  dying 
without  baptism,  are  damned. 

Walter  returned  to  Germany,  and  in  the  year  1322,  was  burnt 
as  a  heretic,  in  Cologne.  But  his  followers  in  England  were  per-* 
secuted  with  the  utmost  severity.  "  The  Lollard's  Tower,"  says 
a  writer,  "  still  stands  as  a  monument  of  their  miseries,  and  of  the 
cruelty  of  their  implacable  enemies.  This  tower  is  at  Lambeth 
palace,  and  was  fitted  up  for  this  purpose  by  Chicheby,  arch-bishop 
of  Canterbury.  The  vast  staples  and  rings  to  which  they  were 
fastened,  before  they  were  brought  out  to  the  stake,  are  still  to  be 
seen  in  a  large  lumber-room  at  the  top  of  the  palace ;  and  ought  to 
make  Protestants  look  back  with  gratitude  upon  the  hour  which 
terminated  so  bloody  a  period." 

Among  the  disciples  of  Walter,  were  the  celebrated  John  Wick- 
liffe  and  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  better  known  in  history  as  Lord  Cob- 
ham; 

Wickliffe  was  in  his  youth  distinguished  for  talents  and  literary 
acquirements ;  and  evinced  an  early  attachment  to  theological  stu- 
dies. At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  was  admitted  commoner  of  Queen's 
College,  Oxford.  He  passed  through  the  several  degrees  in  the 
University,  and  at  the  age  of  forty-eight,  the  degree  of  doctor  of 
divinity  was  conferred  upon  him.  By  his  assiduous  study  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  and  endowed  with  an  intellect  clear  and  compre- 
hensive, he  was  enabled  to  maintain  tlie  great  truths  of  tlie  gospel 
against  the  combined  attacks  of  the  pontiffs  and  the  doctors  of  the 
Church,  and  to  establish  those  principles  of  religious  liberty  which 
formed  the  basis  of  tlie  Reformation  in  the  sixteenth  century. — 
Wicklilfe  was  born  in  the  year  1324,  and  died  at  the  age  of  sixty, 
in  the  reign  of  Richard  II. 

The  statute  of  provisors  passed  in  the  year  1350-,  and  the  sev- 
eral parliamentary  enactments  in  the  reign  of  Richard  II.,  restrain- 
ing aliens  from  letting  their  benefices  to  farm ;  next,  making  them 
incapable  of  being  presented  to  any  ecclesiastical  preferments ; 
that,  prohibiting  the  subjects  of  the  king  from  accepting  a  living  by 
any  foreign  provision;  that,  imposing  severe  penalties  upon  the  in- 
troduction into  the  kingdom  of  any  citation  or  excommunication 
from  beyond  sea,  to  defeat  the  operation  of  the  preceeding  legisla- 
tive provisions;  and  lastly,  that  declaring  that  "  Whoever  procures 
at  Rome,  or  elsewhere,  any  translations,  processes,  excommunica- 
tions, bulls,  &c.,  or  other  things,  whicli  touch  the  king,  against 
him,  his  crown,  and  realm,  and  all  persons  aiding  and  assisting 
therein,  shall  be  put  out  of  the  king's  protection,  and  be  subjected 


248  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  centuiy. 

to  a  praemunire  facias,"  &c.,  were  all  measures  against  the  abuses 
of  tlie  papal  prerog-atives  arising  from  the  dissemination  of  the 
principles  of  Wickliffe.  "All  ecclesiastical  possessions,"  says  a 
writer,  "  were  marked  for  spoliation  by  the  system  of  this  relorm- 
er."  It  was  not  to  be  expected  that  the  couit  of  Rome  would  be 
long  silent  under  these  successful  elforts  to  arrest  its  career  of  usur- 
pations. The  government  of  England  assumed  a  firm  and  decided 
stand  against  the  abuses  which  had  arisen  under  the  exercise  of  the 
.exorbitant  powers  claimed  by  the  Romish  hierarchy ;  and  to  the 
principles  triumphantly  maintained  by  AVicklitie,  this  change  of 
public  opinion  was  justly  attributed.  He  had  attacked  the  vices  of 
the  Mendicant  Friars,  and  of  the  monastic  orders  generally.  These 
religious  societies  were  endowed,  not  only  with  the  tithes  of  the 
parishes,  but  with  lands,  manors,  and  extensive  baronies.  Pope 
Urban  notified  the  king  that  he  would  summon  him  to  Avignon,  for 
his  default  in  not  paying  tlie  customary  tribute,  and  rendering  due 
homage  tor  his  kingdom;  Wickliife  boldly  maintained  the  indepen- 
dence of  the  realm,  and  sustained  the  king  in  his  determination  to 
resist  such  arbitrary  and  unfounded  pretensions.  He  reproved  the 
pride  of  the  clergy;  wrote  against  the  rites  and  doctrines  of  the 
church  of  Rome;  and  at  length  in  his  public  lectures  directly  at- 
tacked the  authority  of  t!ie  popes.  The  papal  bulls  were  publish- 
ed against  the  retormer,  and  a  process  instituted  against  him  in  the 
ecclesiastical  court.  But  the  influence  of  the  duke  of  Lancaster, 
protected  him  from  the  grasp  of  his  enemies  ;  and  although  he  was 
expelled  fiom  the  University  of  Oxford,  by  the  chancellor,  he  died 
in  the  peaceable  possession  of  his  parsonage  at  Lutterwortli. 

Wickliffe  opposed  the  doctrine  of  transubstantiation,  and  the  sale 
of  indulgences,  the  sacrifice  of  the  mass,  the  adoration  of  the  host, 
purgatory,  meritorious  satisfactions  by  penance,  auricular  confes- 
sion, the  celibacy  of  the  clergy,  papal  excommunications,  the  wor- 
ship of  images,  the  Virgin,  and  relics,  and  did  not  hesitate  to  de- 
clare that  the  pope  of  Rome  was  the  anti-Christ  mentioned  in 
Scripture.  Like  the  Lollards,  he  was  opposed  to  infant  l)aptism  ; 
and  a  popish  writer  referring  to  his  writings,  speaks  of  him  as 
"  One  of  the  seven  heads  that  came  out  of  the  bottomless  pit,  for 
denying  infant  baptism,  that  heresy  of  the  Lollards,  of  whom  he 
was  so  great  a  ringleader."  He  published,  not  long  before  his 
death,  a  translation  into  English,  of  the  Holy  Scriptures.  In  the 
following  century,  the  council  of  Constance  condemned  the  mem- 
ory and  opinions  of  Wickliffe  by  a  solemn  decree,  and  in  the  year 
1428,  his  bones  were  dug  up   and  publicly  burnt." 

Cotemporary  witli  that  great  reformer,  was  Lord  Cobham,  who 
is  said  to  have  been,  "the  first  noble  author,  and  the  first  martyr 
in  England,  in  the  cause  of  the  Reformation."  He  was  a  disciple 
of  Wickliife.  He  is  distinguished  in  history  for  his  noble  and  val- 
iant spirit,  and  the  opinion  of  his  valor,  joined  to  that  of  his  hon- 


14th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  249 

esty  and  piety,  secured  to  him  universal  popularity  in  England. 
His  zeal  in  defense  of  the  doctrines  of  Wicklitfe,  and  of  the  mea- 
sures of  the  government  in  opposition  to  the  papal  usurpations, 
rendered  him  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  clergy;  and  he  was 
marked  out  by  the  arcli-bishop  of  Canterbury,  as  a  proper  object 
of  vindictive  punishment.  An  inquisition  of  heresy  was  procured 
under  the  seal  of  the  king;  and  resulted  in  a  charge  against  Cob- 
ham  of  heretical  and  seditious  doctrines.  His  oifense  was  submit- 
ted to  the  king,  (Henry  V.,)  and  the  prelate  petitioned,  "  in  all  hu- 
mility and  charity,  tliat  his  majesty  would  sutler  them,  for  Christ's 
sake,  to  put  him  to  death."  The  king,  sincerely  attached  to  so 
brave  a  defender  of  his  royal  prerogatives,  and  of  the  kingdom, 
refused  his  assent  to  so  summary  a  process ;  and  endeavored  by 
argument  and  persuasion  to  bring  him  back  into  the  bosom  of  the 
Church.  But  Cobham  was  unshaken  in  his  faith.  "  1  ever  was  a 
dutiful  subject  to  your  majesty,"  he  said,  "and  I  hope  ever  shall 
be.  Next  to  God,  I  profess  obedience  to  my  king.  But  as  for  the 
spiritual  dominion  of  the  pope,  I  never  could  see  on  wiiat  founda- 
tion it  is  claimed,  nor  can  I  pay  him  any  obedience.  As  sure  as 
God's  word  is  true,  to  me  it  is  fully  evident,  that  he  is  tlie  great 
anti-Christ  foretold  in  Holy  Writ."  The  king,  fearful  of  the  cen- 
sures of  the  Church,  permitted  the  arch-bisliop  to  proceed  against 
him.  He  was  accoi'dingly  excommunicated,  and  delivered  over  to 
the  secular  power.  After  a  confinement  of  six  months  in  the  tow- 
er, he  escaped  and  fled  to  Wales.  But  he  could  not  elude  the  vig- 
ilance of  his  pursuers.  He  was  eventually  taken,  and  condemned  as 
a  heretic  and  a  traitor.  "He  was  hung  up  alive,  by  the  middle, 
\vitji  iron  chains,  on  the  gallows  which  had  been  prepared,  under 
which  a  fire  being  made,  he  was  burnt  to  death." 

Whilst  these  events  were  ti-anspiring  in  England,  the  principles 
of  the  Reformation  were  progressing  on  the  continent.  Huss,  of 
Bohemia,  had  perused  the  writings  of  Wickliife,  and  aljjured  the 
false  doctrines  of  popery,  and  even  before  the  death  of  that  Eng- 
lish reformer,  there  are  evidences  of  the  reformed  religion  having 
been  deeply  planted  in  Germany,  through  the  instrumentallity  of  his 
works.  In  his  letter  to  Huss,  written  not  long  befoi'e  his  death,  he 
says,  "  I  rejoiced  greatly  at  the  brethren,  coming  to  us  from  you, 
bearing  testimony  of  you  in  tiie  truth,  and  that  ye  walk  in  truth.  I 
have  heard  how  anti-Christ  trouhleth  you,  causing  many  and  vari- 
ous tribulations  to  the  faitiiful  in  Christ.  And  no  wonder  that  sucii 
things  should  be  done  among  you,  since  the  law  of  Christ  suflfereth 
oppression  from  its  adversaries  over  all  the  world ;  and  from  that 
red  dragon  with  many  heads,  which  John  speaks  of  in  the  Revela- 
tion, that  cast  out  of  his  mouth  water  as  a  flood  after  the  woman, 
that  she  might  he  carried  away  of  it."  "  As  a  good  soldier  of  Je- 
sus Christ,  war  in  word  and  in  deed;  and  recall  into  the  way  of 
truth  as  many  as  thou  art  able ;  because  neither  by  erroneous  and 


250  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  century. 

deceitful  decrees,  nor  by  the  false  opinions  and  doctrines  of  anti- 
Christ,  is  the  truth  of  tiie  gospel  to  be  kept  in  silence  and  in  se- 
cret." "  It  is  a  great  joy  to  me,  that  not  only  in  your  kingdom, 
but  elsewhere,  God  hath  so  strengthened  the  hearts  of  some,  that 
they  suffer  with  pleasure,  imprisonments,  banishments,  and  even 
death  itself,  for  the  Word  of  God."  Tlie  writings  of  Wickliffe 
were  translated  into  the  Sclavonian  tongue ;  and  under  the  difficul- 
ties which  then  existed  of  circulating  extensively  the  publications 
of  the  time,  his  doctrines  were  disseminated  in  almost  every  part 
of  Europe.  Huss  communicated  them  from  the  pulpit,  and  in  the 
Universities;  his  followers  traversing  the  different  provinces,  ex- 
tended a  knowledge  of  the  truth,  drawn  from  this  source ;  and  a 
general  spirit  of  inquiry  was  awakened. 

The  zeal  and  untiring  efforts  of  Wickliffe,  tempered  by  his  cul- 
tivated understanding,  and  by  an  abiding  faith  in  God,  gave  an  im- 
pulse to  the  cause  of  religious  liberty  in  Europe.  The  new  doc- 
trines, as  tiiey  were  called,  were  readily  received  by  the  people 
wherever  they  were  preached,  and  a  cotemporary  writer  gives  this 
testimony  of  their  extensive  circulation  at  the  close  of  the  four- 
teenth century,  that  in  England,  "  More  than  one  half  of  the  peo- 
ple became  Lollards."  The  papists  were,  hou'ever,  as  zealous 
and  as  untiring  in  their  efforts  to  suppress  these  widely  spread  her- 
esies. The  power  of  the  government,  notwithstanding  the  parlia- 
mentary provisions  against  abuses  wliich  grew  out  of  the  corrup- 
tion of  the  clergy,  was  still  subservient  to  the  authority  of  the 
popes.  The  civil  officers  were  commissioned  to  aid  the  Church  in 
silencing  those  who  had  raised  tlieir  voices  against  the  popish  doc- 
trines. Edward  III.  himself,  although  he  had  firmly  withstood  the 
court  of  Rome  in  measures  touching  what  he  affirmed  lo  be  his 
royal  prerogatives,  empowered  the  magistrates  to  seize  the  persons 
and  the  writings  of  tlie  Wickliffites  or  Lollards,  as  the  I'eibrmers 
were  called,  and  to  imprison  all  who  transcribed,  sold,  bought,  or 
concealed  their  books.  It  is  evident  that  the  axe  was  not  laid  at 
the  root  of  the  tree ;  and  the  sovereigns  of  England  seemed  to 
have  designed  no  more  than  to  lop  off  those  branches  which  had 
extended  their  arms  with  too  luxuriant  a  growth.  Lord  Cobham 
was  martyred  in  the  following  century ;  and  in  this,  many  distin- 
guished patrons  of  Wickliffe,  wlio  liad  protected  him  from  the 
grasp  of  the  spiritual  courts,  preferred  recantation  to  persecution. 
It  was  among  the  people,  however,  that  tlie  principles  of  religious 
reform  acquired  strength ;  and  although  silently,  continued  to  ex- 
tend. 

As  we  have  already  observed,  the  doctrines  of  WicklifTc  were 
early  transplanted  to  the  continent.  The  opposition  of  the  Eng- 
lish court  to  tlie  measures  of  a  radical  change  in  religion,  ex|)<!lled 
from  the  island,  numbers  who  adhered  tenaciously  to  the  new  faith  ; 
and  they  carried  with  them  their  principles.     The  principal  of  Ed- 


14th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  251 

mund  Hall,  in  the  University  of  Oxford,  Peter  Payne,  a  man  of 
cultivated  mind,  and  of  inflexible  purpose,  and  who  had  distin- 
guished himself  in  his  opposition  to  the  monastic  orders,  has  the 
iionor  of  having  first  propagated  the  doctrines  of  the  great  English 
reformer  in  Bohemia. 

In  tracing  the  progress  of  the  Reformation  in  this  age,  we  must 
not  forget,  in  the  history  of  the  efforts  of  Wickliife,  in  England, 
and  of  Huss  in  Bohemia,  that  ancient  branch  of  the  true  Church, 
whose  history  we  have  already  traced  from  the  third  to  tlie  present 
century.  It  is  interesting  to  pursue  these  apparently  disconnected 
efforts,  from  this  period  back  to  their  undoubted  origin  from  this 
great  depositary  of  s|)iritual  truth.  Wickliff'e  was  the  reflector  of 
the  principles  of  Walter  the  Lollard.  He  was  indeed,  more  wor- 
thy to  have  given  name  to  the  sect,  as  bishop  Newton  very  justly 
remarks,  for  he  was  not  only  the  honor  of  his  own,  but  the  admira- 
tion of  succeeding  times.  Walter  himself  was  called,  '•'  Pastor  of  the 
Waldenses,"  by  Perrin,  who  wrote  a  history  of  the  Church  in  the 
valleys  of  Piedmont.  He  was  a  native  of  Germany,  or  of  its  con- 
tiguous territory  on  the  Rhine.  The  celebrated  Peter  Waldo, 
when  driven  out  of  Picardy  by  persecution,  proceeded  to  Ger- 
many. In  Alsace,  and  along  the  Rhine,  his  doctrines  were  exten- 
sively propagated.  He  passed  through  the  cities  of  Mentz,  the 
native  place  of  Walter,  and  of  Strasburg,  and  thence  into  Bohe- 
mia. The  traces  of  his  missionary  labors  were  visible  afterward, 
by  the  cruel  slaughter  of  those  who  had  adopted  his  religious  ten- 
ets. Thus  are  we  enabled,  by  undoubted  historical  facts,  to  follow 
back  in  the  connected  chain  of  events,  the  doctrines  of  Wicklifl'e 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  to  their  true  source,  the  church  of  the 
Waldenses  planted  in  Germany  at  the  close  of  the  twelfth.  But  it 
should  be  here  observed,  (as  it  might  be  erroneously  inferred  from 
what  has  been  said,)  that  Bohemia  is  not  indebted  to  the  English 
reformer  for  the  introduction  of  these  religious  principles.  His 
writings  undoubtedly  gave  additional  strength  to  the  advocates  of 
the  Waldensian  faith ;  but  it  was  already  planted  there.  History 
informs  us,  that  in  the  year  1315,  the  number  of  the  Waldenses 
was  estimated  at  not  less  than  eighty  thousand.  These  remarks  will 
carry  us  back  to  that  period  at  whi{;h  the  narration  of  the  events 
connected  with  their  history  was  concluded. 

After  the  exterminating  warfare  which  was  carried  on  against 
the  ./llbigenscs  in  the  last  century,  and  which  terminated  in  the  year 
1229,  by  their  destruction  or  dispersion,  that  distinctive  title  dis- 
appears from  the  pages  of  history.  The  dissenters  from  the  church 
of  Rome,  in  France  and  elsewhere,  are  frccpiently,  and  indiscrimi- 
nately denominated  Waldenses,  by  the  writers  of  that  age.  "  The 
practice,"  says  Robinson,  "  of  confounding  heretics  of  all  kinds  in 
one  common  herd,  hath  been  an  ancient  custom  with  ecclesiastical 
historians,  and  it  hath  obscured  history."     The  appellation  of  Al- 


252  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  century. 

bigenses,  whenever  applied,  seems  to  have  been  restricted  to  those 
dissenters  particularly,  wlio  resided  in  the  southern  provinces  of 
France,  or  the  territory  anciently  known  as  Albigesium,  or  Nar- 
bonnese  Gaul.  From  the  middle  of  the  thirteenth  century,  they 
weie  embraced  with  the  other  dissenters  in  France,  Piedmont  and 
elsewliere,  under  tlie  general  title  of  VValdenses.  It  has  already 
been  remarked  that  their  religious  tenets  were  essentially  the  same, 
although  a  distinction  has  been  drawn  by  popish  writers,  to  the 
prejudice  of  the  former.  They  were  accused  of  maintaining  the 
doctrines  of  the  Manichceans ;  but  Bossuet  acquits  them  of  the 
cliarge  of  believing  in  the  two  principles,  which  was  the  most  ab- 
surd and  abominable  feature  of  Orientalism.  "  I  defy,"  says  AUix, 
"the  impudence  of  the  devil  himself,  to  lind  in  their  writings,  the 
least  sliadow  of  Manichse.ism."  A  writer  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, thus  quaintly  remarks : 

"  What  the  sect  of  Geneva  doth  admit, 
The  Albigenses  did  commit." 

The  Albigenses  who  fled  from  the  crusaders  under  tlie  command 
of  Simon,  earl  of  Montford,  sought  a  refuge  in  the  mountains,  and 
in  the  different  States  of  Europe.  "In  1213,  they  were  numerous 
in  Alsace  and  Germany.  In  the  following  year,  they  were  thickly 
settled  in  the  provinces  of  Arragon  and  Catalonia,  having  many 
churches  organized,  with  their  pastors,  or  bishops  and  deacons,  hi 
the  year  1232,  the  inquisition  was  established  in  Arragon;  which 
was  instructed  by  pope  Gregory  IX.,  "  To  make  diligent  inquiry 
against  heretics,  and  render  them  infamous,  &c."  "  In  1229,  they 
had  spread  themselves  in  great  numbers  thi-oughout  all  Italy.  They 
had  ten  schools  in  Valcamonica  alone,  which  were  supported  by 
pecuniary  contributions  in  all  their  societies,  and  which  contribu- 
tions were  transmitted  into  Lombardy.  About  the  year  1250,  these 
sectaries,  then  designated  as  Waldenses,  are  said  to  have  had  flour- 
ishing churches  in  Albania,  Lombardy,  Milan,  Romagna,  Vincenza, 
Florence  and  Val  Spoletine,  and  a  few  years  after  in  Sicily."  We 
have  also  authentic  evidences  of  their  migration,  in  the  course  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  to  Livonia,  Sarmatia,  Croatia,  Dalmatia, 
Sclavonia  and  Bulgaria;  and  of  their  churches  being  established  in 
Philad(^l[)hia,  and  evcni  in  the  city  of  Constantinople." 

Thus  und(;r  the  mysterious  providence  of  God,  they  returned  to 
the  regions  in  the  Eastern  provinces  of  Europe  and  into  Asia,  from 
which  their  ancestors,  the  Paulicians,  had  migrated  more  than  two 
liuudied  years  before. 

From  the  period  of  the  great  immigration  of  the  Paulicians  into 
the  Western  States  of  Europe,  in  the  eleventh  century,  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Reformation  has  been  traced  by  historians  under  vari- 
ous denominations  of  Christians,  dilfering  from  each  other,  it  is 
true,  in  unimportant  points  of  doctrines,  but  agreeing  in  their  ab- 


14th  century.]  the  church  op  christ.  253 

juration  of  the  Romish  church.  The  Pauliciaiis,  a  branch  of  the 
most  ancient  dissenters  from  that  church,  were,  aiter  their  recei)t 
settlement,  variously  designated  as  Albigcos,  Cathaiists,  Paterines, 
&c.  After  these  sprung  up  the  Petrobrusians,  Ilenncians,  Arnold- 
ists,  the  Poor  Men  of  Lyons,  the  Lollards,  Wicklilhtes,  &c.,  at 
successive  periods.  The  Vaudois,  the  other  great  branch  of  ancient 
dissenters,  tracing  their  origin  back,  as  did  the  Paulicians,  from  the 
third  century,  retained  their  appropriate  title.  These  two  majestic 
streams,  meandering,  each  in  its  respective  channel,  from  that  early 
period,  united  in  the  eleventh  century,  and  formed  that  reservoir 
from  which  innumerable  branches  sprung  in  the  three  successive 
centuries.  These  in  time  lost  their  distinctive  names;  and  received 
one  common  appellation,  designating  their  common  origin. 

From  the  Paulicians  and  the  Vaudois,  may  be  traced  the  various 
denominations  of  Christian  Churches,  whose  history  has  been  but 
briefly  sketched.  From  the  thirteenth  century  to  the  sixteenth,  ec- 
clesiastical writers  have  transmitted  to  us,  under  the  common  title 
of  Waldenses,  their  accounts  of  the  numerous  reformers  who  sepa- 
rated tliemselves  from  the  hierarchy  of  Rome,  and  founded  their 
several  religious  institutions  on  principles  drawn  directly  from  the 
word  of  God. 

While  the  spirit  of  persecution  raged  in  the  southern  provinces 
of  France,  the  inhabitants  of  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  enjoyed  the 
unmolested  exercise  of  their  religious  piivileges.  The  counts  of 
Savoy,'  w^ere  humane  and  tolerant  in  their  government.  "They 
indignantly  rejected  the  repeated  solicitations  of  priests  and  monks; 
and  from  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  century,  until  the  year 
1487,  a  period  of  nearly  three  hundred  years,  peremptorily  refused 
to  disturb  them.  An  effort  was  made  to  introduce  the  inquisition 
into  Piedmont,  but  the  proceedings  in  France  had  sufficiently 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  inhabitants  to  the  spirit  and  principles  of 
that  infernal  court,  and  they  wisely  resisted  its  establishment  among 
them.  An  inquisitor  of  the  name  of  Peter  of  Verona,  had  been 
deputed  by  the  pope,  to  carry  the  project  into  elTect;  but  the  \)C0- 
ple  made  a  martyr  of  him,  either  at  Turin  or  Susa.  Another  at- 
tempt was  made  at  Milan,  at  a  subsequent  period  ;  but  the  mob  rose 
at  the  bare  proposal  of  it  and  tlew'  to  arms,  exclaiming  that  it  was 
a  system  of  tyranny  and  not  of  religion.  Naples  and  Venice,  also 
successfully  resisted  the  inquisitorial  scheme;  and  as  the  populace 
in  almost  every  part  of  Italy  formed  insurrections  against  the  in- 
quisitors, evincing  the  most  determined  hostility  against  them,  the 
States  prudently  availed  themselves  of  this  temper  of  mind,  and 
pretended  they  were  afraid  of  exasperating  the  people  should  they 
introduce  the  independent  powder  of  the  holy  office. 

'Tlie  house  of  Savoy,  became  ducal  Ijy  llio  erection  of  llic  territory  into  a  duke- 
dom, liy  tlic  emperor  Sigismund  in  1417  ,  when  Amadacus  VIII  ,  received  the  title 
of  duke. 


254  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  ceiitury. 

The  contest  between  Frederick  II.,  emperor  of  Germany,  and 
the  popes,  arrested  the  arm  of  persecution  tiirough  the  greater  part 
of  his  reign,  within  his  dominions;  and  hence  it  was  tliat  immense 
numbers  of  the  Albigenses  removed  to  that  country,  and  resided 
there  in  peace.  In  the  year  1224,  he  issued  four  several  edicts  of 
a  most  cruel  character  against  dissenters;  and  the  persecution 
against  them  was  carried  on  with  the  utmost  severity,  until  another 
controversy  arose  between  tlie  emperor  and  the  popes  Honorius 
111.  and  Gregory  IX. 

Frederick,  although  endowed  with  many  traits  of  a  noble  char- 
acter, was  nevertheless  in  principle  a  bigoted  papist.  The  right  of 
succession  devolved  on  him  whilst  yet  a  minor.  His  uncle,  FhiHp 
duke  of  Suabia,  took  the  reins  of  government  as  regent,  during  his 
minority.  Pliilip  was  excommunicated  by  pope  Innocent  III.,  and 
in  prejudice  to  the  just  claims  of  Frederick,  tlie  pope  elevated  to 
the  imperial  throne  Otho  IV.,  the  duke  of  Brunswick;  and  placed 
the  crown  upon  his  head  in  1208.  Not  long  after,  having  invaded 
Sicily,  he  was  also  excommunicated.  Frederick  advanced  his 
claims;  and  to  conciliate  the  pontiff,  lavished  on  him  munificent  do- 
nations ;  confirmed  to  the  see  of  Rome  the  rich  possessions  which 
Matilda,  the  duchess  of  Tuscany,  had  conferred  on  Gregory  VIl.; 
and  permitted  the  count  of  Fundi,  to  bequeath  to  him  his  estate. 
Honorious  III.,  successor  of  Innocent,  soothed  by  the  liberality  of 
Frederick,  crowned  him  emperor,  at  Rome,  in  1220.  The  com- 
promise of  these  differences  was,  however,  for  a  time  most  fatal  to 
the  peace  and  safety  of  the  heretics.  By  the  imperial  edict  in 
1224,  the  Puritans,  Paterines,  Leonists,  Arnoldists,  Passignes,  Jo- 
sephines, Albigenses,  Waldenses,  &c.,  were  condemned  to  perpetual 
infamy;  the  protection  of  tlie  government  Avas  withdrawn  from 
them ;  and  they  were  put  under  the  ban  of  the  empire.  It  declared 
the  property  of  all  other  heretics,  of  both  sexes  and  of  whatever 
name,  confiscated ;  as  that  their  children  may  never  inherit  from 
them  ;  since,  said  the  edict,  it  is  more  heinous  to  ollend  the  eternal 
than  the  temporal  majesty.  All  suspected  persons  were  required 
to  purge  themselves  within  a  year;  and  the  ecclesiastical  judges 
were  commanded  to  exterminate  all  heretics  wilhin  their  respective 
jurisdictions.  "  Furthermore,"  it  contiued,  "  we  put  under  our  ban 
those  who  believe,  receive,  defend,  and  favor  hcietics;  ordaining 
that  if  any  person  shall  refuse  to  give  satisfaction  within  a  year  af- 
ter his  excommunication,  he  shall  be  ipso  facto  infamous,  and  not 
admitted  to  any  kind  of  public  olTices.  Let  him  be  intestable,  let 
him  not  have  tlie  i)ower  of  making  a  will,  nor  of  receiving  any  thing 
by  succession  or  inheritance.  Moreover,  let  no  one  answer  for  him 
in  any  affair;  but  let  him  be  obliged  to  answer  others.  If  he  should 
be  a  judge,  let  his  sentence  be  of  no  effect,  nor  any  causes  be  heard 
before  him.  If  an  advocate,  let  him  never  be  admitted  to  plead  in 
any  one's  defense.     If  a  notary,  let  no  instruments  made  by  him  be 


14th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  255 

valid.  We  add,  that  an  heretic  may  be  convicted  by  an  heretic ; 
and  that  the  houses  of  the  Paterines,  their  abettors  and  favorers, 
either  where  they  have  tauglit,  or  where  tliey  have  laid  hands  on 
others,  shall  be  destroyed,  never  to  be  rebuilt." 

Another  edict  denounced  the  Paterines  as  guilty  of  high  treason, 
and  punishable  by  the  loss  of  life  and  of  goods.  It  enjoins  upon 
the  otbcials  a  strict  inquiry  after  all  suspected  of  those  crimes;  and 
condemns  to  death  all  who  are  found  to  err  in  one  point  from  the 
papal  church ;  ordering,  that  they  be  committed  to  the  flames  in  a 
public  manner.  The  other  edicts,  published  about  the  same  time, 
breathe  the  same  demoniac  spirit;  and  exhibit  the  malign  influence 
of  the  genius  of  popery  over  a  monarch  who  has  been  represented 
by  historians  as  having  been  possessed  of  many  virtuous  qualities, 
and  naturally  endowed  with  feeling;s  of  magnanimity.  It  was  during 
this  period  of  a  friendly  understanding  between  Frederick  and 
Honorius,  that  an  exterminating  warfare  was  carried  on  against 
heretics  within  the  imperial  dominions,  cotemporaneously  with  the 
closing  scenes  which  were  exhibited  in  France.  Fortunately,  how- 
ever, for  the  oppressed  and  miserable  dissenters,  this  harmony  was 
not  long  alter,  interrupted  by  the  domineering  temper  of  the  pope. 
In  the  year  1228,  Frederick  was  treacherously  treated  by  Gregory, 
the  successor  of  Honorius,  and  an  angry  controversy  ensued,  whicli 
continued  between  the  emperor  and  the  popes  until  the  period  o(" 
his  death.  "  A  beast  of  blasphemy,"  said  Gregory,  "  abounding 
with  names,  is  risen  from  the  sea,  with  the  feet  of  a  bear,  the  face 
of  a  lion,  and  members  of  other  ditferent  animals;  which,  like  the 
proud,  hath  opened  its  mouth  in  blasphemy  against  the  holy  name; 
not  even  fearing  to  throw  the  arrows  of  calumny  against  the  taber- 
nacle of  God,  and  the  saints  that  dwell  in  heaven.  This  beast,  de- 
sirous of  breaking  every  thing  in  pieces  with  his  iron  teeth  and 
nails,  and  of  trampling  all  things  under  his  feet,  hath  already  pre- 
pared private  battering  rams  against  the  wall  of  the  Catholic  (po- 
pish) faith;  and  now  raises  open  machines,  in  erecting  soul-destroy- 
ing schools  ol'  Ishmaelites;  rising,  according  to  report,  in  opposi- 
tion to  Christ,  the  Redeemer  of  mankind,  the  table  of  whose  coven- 
ant he  attempts  to  abolish  with  the  pen  of  wicked  heresy.  Be  not, 
therefore,  surprised  at  the  malice  of  this  blasphemous  beast,  if  we 
who  are  the  servants  of  the  Almighty,  should  be  exposed  to  the  ar- 
rows of  his  destruction.  This  king  of  plagues  was  even  beard  to 
say,  that  the  whole  world  has  been  deceived  by  three  impostors, 
Moses,  Christ  and  Mahomet;  but  he  makes  Jesus  far  inferior  to  the 
other  two.  "  They,"  says  he,  "  supported  their  glory  to  the  last, 
whereas  Christ  was  ignominiously  crucified."  Frederick  defended 
himself,  not  only  with  the  sword,  but  by  a  solemn  declaration  of 
his  faith,  addressed  to  all  the  princes  of  Europe,  to  whom  Gregory 
had  sent  copies  of  his  allegations  and  accompanying  anathemas,  and 
in  it  he  called  the  pope,  the  great  dragon  and  anti-Christ,  of  whom 


256  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  cenlury. 

it  is  written,  "  And  another  red  horse  arose  from  the  sea,  and  he 
that  sat  upon  him  tooic  peace  from  the  earth." 

Before  this  dispute  had  been  brought  to  this  fearful  issue  hetween 
those  higli  contending  pai'ties,  which  occurred  in  the  year  1239, 
the  Waklenses  in  a  pait  of  Germany  had  suiiered  from  the  mahce 
of  their  persecutors ;  but  they  enjoyed  a  comparative  security  from 
1230  to  1250.  After  the  death  of  Frederick,  the  leslraining  power 
whicli  he  exercised  within  those  periods  having  been  removed,  the 
Franciscan  and  Dominican  , friars  were  commissioned  to  erect  in- 
quisitorial tribunals  within  the  Italian  territories  of  the  empire, 
based  upon  the  edicts  which  were  issued  in  1224.  The  oificials 
convicted,  and  the  civil  authorities  executed  tiie  sentence  of  con- 
dem^nation  ;  or  as  expressed  by  a  writer,  "  The  priest  was  the  judge 
and  the  king  was  the  hangman." 

In  the  year  1306,  a  severe  edict  w^as  published  by  the  arch-bishop 
of  Cologne,  against  the  Catharists,  Begnards,  &c.  In  1330,  the 
Waldenses  were  cruelly  harrassed  by  a  Jacobin  monk,'  of  the  name 
of  Echard.  "  After  inflicting  cruelties  with  great  severity,  and  for 
a  length  of  time,  upon  the  ^Valdenses,  he  was  at  length  induced  to 
investigate  the  causes  and  reasons  of  their  separation  fi-om  the 
churcii  of  Rome.  The  force  of  truth  ultimately  prevailed  over  all 
liis  prejudices,  his  own  conscience  attested  that  many  of  the  errors 
and  corruptions,  which  they  charged  on  that  apostate  church,  real- 
ly existed;  and,  finding  himself  unable  to  disprove  the  articles  of 
their  faith  by  the  word  of  God,  he  confessed  that  truth  had  over- 
come him,  gave  glory  to  God,  and  entered  into  the  communion  of 
the  Waldensian  churches,  which  he  had  long  been  engaged  in  pun- 
ishing and  persecuting  even  to  death.  Emissaries  were  despatched 
in  pursuit  of  him;  and  he  was  at  length  apprehended  and  conveyed 
to  Heidelburg,  wliere  he  was  committed  to  the  flames.  His  dying 
testimony  was  a  noble  attestation  to  the  principles  and  conduct  of 
the  Waldenses;  for  he  went  to  the  stake  charging  it  upon  the 
church  of  Rome,  as  a  monstrous  and  iniquitous  procedure,  to  put 
to  death  so  many  innocent  persons,  for  no  other  crime  than  their 
steadfast  adherence  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  in  opposition  to  the  de- 
lusions of  anti-Christ."  In  the  same  year,  the  Waldenses,  wlio  fled 
from  the  persecution  in  Ficardy  to  Foland,  were  arrested  in  great 
numbers  by  the  inquisitors,  wFio  traversed  the  whole  country  in 
pursuit  of  those  suspected  of  heretical  pravity,  and  cruelly  des- 
troyed. 

In  the  j)ersecutlon  of  certain  dissenters  from  the  churcli  of  Rome 
in  the  year  1322,  ^Valter  the  Lollard,  fell  a  victim  to  the  merciless 
severities  of  the  Dominicans.  In  the  account  of  this  persecution, 
he  is  spoken  of  as  their  chief  leader  and  champion.  By  other  wri- 
ters, he  is  mentioned  as  the  head  of  the  Lollards;  and  also,  the  dis- 

'.\  Dominican  of  the  convent  at  Paris,  near  the  Rue  St.  Jacques. 


14th  century,]  the  church  of  christ.  257 

tingulsljed  pastor  or  barb  of  the  Waldenses.  The  dissenters  with 
whom  he  suftered  martyrdom  are  called  Beghards}  As  it  has  been 
already  remarked,  this  promiscuous  application  of  terms  to  those 
who  fell  under  the  general  ciiarge  of  heresy,  has  been  the  occasion 
of  inextricable  confusion.  The  titles  of  Beghard  and  Beguin  were 
applied,  as  we  are  informed  by  Mosheim,  to  thirty  sects  or  orders, 
which  differed  widely  from  each  other  in  their  opinions,  their  dis- 
cipline, and  manner  of  living. 

In  the  year  1370,  a  colony  of  Waldenses  removed  from  Dau- 
phine  to  Calabria.  They  were  favorably  received  by  the  proprie- 
tors of  the  laud,  and  lots  were  parceled  out  to  them  on  terms  of  an 
annual  rent,  for  the  use  and  cultivation  of  the  soil.  By  their  indus- 
try, econom}^  and  skilful  husbandry,  they  soon  formed  a  flourishing 
settlement.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  their  peculiar  tenets 
attracted  the  notice  of  the  priests.  The  purity  of  their  morals, 
and  their  refusal  to  pay  for  masses,  distinguished  them  from  the 
community  of  papists  in  which  they  resided.  They  were,  there- 
fore, marked  out  as  proper  objects  of  popish  malignity.  The  in- 
fluence of  the  landlords,  however,  who  were  interested  in  protect- 
ing their  tenants  from  molestation  interposed  in  their  behalf,  and  ar- 
rested the  arm  which  was  already  raised  to  strike  the  fatal  blow. 
"  Tiie  tithes,"  said  they  to  the  priests,  "  which  ye  now  receive,  are 
so  much  greater  than  those  which  were  formerly  produced  from 
these  countries,  that  you  are  more  tiian  compensated  for  any  losses 
you  may  sustain  on  other  accounts.  These  people  fear  God,  are 
generous  to  the  poor,  just  and  beneficent  to  all  men ;  and  it  would 
be  illiberal  to  force  their  consciences.  Are  they  not  a  temperate, 
sober,  discreet  people,  and  peculiarly  decent  in  their  speech  .^  Does 
any  person  ever  hear  them  utter  a  blasphemous  expression  ?"  Thus 
in  the  southern  extremity  of  Italy,  was  preserved  a  flourishing 
colony  of  Waldenses,  who  remained  there  until  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury ;  when  they  adopted  the  government  and  forms  of  worship  of 
the  church  of  Geneva,  as  new  modeled  by  Calvin;  from  which 
period  their  sufferings  commenced,  and  grievously  were  they  af- 
flicted. 

The  fact,  of  which  there  is  undoubted  evidence  in  history,  that 
the  persecutions  for  heretical  opinions  were  seldom  as  severe  in  the 
city  of  Rome,  and  in  what  may  be  termed  the  ecclesiastical  States, 
as  they  were  in  more  distant  countries,  is  readily  accounted  for,  from 
the  interested  views  of  the  pontiffs.     "  Papal  avarice  has  served  to 

^Beggnn  was  a  German  plirasc  (now  obsolete)  whicli  signified,  to  ask  or  sock  any 
thing,  with  importunity.  To  this  was  appended  the  term  hard,  which  formed  Bog- 
genhard,  whence  Beggehard,  and  afterward  Beghard.  This  term  was  applied  by  the 
Germans  when  Christianity  was  introduced  into  that  country,  as  expressive  of  the 
earnestness  of  those  who  offered  np  prayers  to  God.  A  Beghard  was  a  devout  man; 
and  in  the  thirteenth  and  foarlocnlh  ceiittiries,  u  heretic  was  so  called  witiiout  any 
particular  reference  to  the  sect  he  was  attached  to.  It  was  applied  reproachfully. 
Mosheim. 

17 


258  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [14th  century. 

counterbalance  papal  tyranny."  There  has  always  been  in  the  Me- 
tropolis itself,  a  degree  of  toleration  utterly  at  variance  with  that 
spirit  of  indiscriminate  warfare  against  heresies,  in  every  other  por- 
tion of  Christendom.  The  popes  have  derived  their  richest  reve- 
nues from  the  influx  of  strangers  into  the  city ;  and  they  were  well 
aware  that  a  system  of  forbearance  would  increase  their  wealth, 
which  has  been  always  more  dear  to  them  than  their  religion. 

About  the  close  of  the  last  century  appeared,  in  Savoy  and 
Dauphiny,  a  sect  which  assumed  the  title  of  "  the  Fraternity  of  the 
Poor ;"  and  supposed  by  some  writers  to  have  been  identical  with 
the  society  of  the  "  Brethren  and  Sisters  of  the  Free  Spirit." 
What  their  tenets  were  is  not  certainly  known.  In  France,  they 
were  stigmatized,  in  this  century,  with  the  epithet  of  Turlupins ; 
the  origin  of  which  has  never  been  satisfactorily  explained.  In  the 
city  of  Paris,  many  of  them  were  burned.  This  name  became  con- 
founded with  those  of  Beghards,  Lollards,  &c. ;  and  in  the  fifteenth 
century,  it  was  attached  to  the  followers  of  Picard,  (first  known  as 
Picards,)  who,  from  the  most  authentic  accounts,  were  inhabitants 
of  the  Piedmont  valleys,  and  in  1418,  fled  from  persecution  and 
settled  in  Bohemia.  The  Vaudois  who  sought  a  refuge  in  France, 
and  were  driven  from  that  country  into  the  Netherlands,  there  re- 
ceived the  name  of  Turilupins,  or  "  Wolves  of  Turin."  In  the 
year  1334,  one  hundred  and  fourteen  of  them  were  burnt  in  Paris. 
In  1378,  vast  numbers  of  them,  says  a  writer,  were  burnt  alive  in 
the  Place  de  Grave.  "  This  persecution  was  continued  by  an  in- 
quisitorial monk,  commissioned  by  pope  Clement  VII.;  and  in  the 
space  of  thirteen  years,  he  delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  civil 
magistrates  of  Grenoble,  one  hundred  and  fifty  persons  to  be  burned 
as  heretics."  The  persecution  for  religious  opinions  has  been  more 
unremitted  in  France,  than  in  any  other  country  in  Europe.  From 
the  Auto  da  Fe  of  Orleans,  in  the  year  1007,  to  the  eighteenth 
century,  there  was  scarcely  a  period  when  a  Christian  spirit  of  tol- 
eration can  be  said  to  have  prevailed  in  that  country. 

"  During  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  the  number  of 
tlie  Waldenses  increased  in  Germany.  In  the  year  1391,  four  hun- 
dred and  forty-three  were  apprehended  by  the  inquisitors  in  Saxony 
and  Pomerania.  They  confessed  that  their  teachers  came  from  Bo- 
hemia ;  and  that  the  principles  they  maintained  had  been  transmitted 
to  them  from  their  ancestors." 

From  the  facts  which  have  been  thus  summarily  presented,  we 
liave  multiplied  evidences  of  the  approach  of  those  great  events 
which  in  a  century  after,  perfected  and  forever  secured  the  work 
of  Reformation.  God,  in  his  own  appointed  time,  had  determined 
ihe  period  when  (he  two  witnesses  should  finish  their  testimony ; 
and  "  the  everlasting  gospel  be  preached  unto  them  that  dwell  on 
the  earth,  and  to  every  nation,  and  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people." 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  chuist.  359 


CHAPTER    XI. 

The  political  events  of  this  century,  are  memorable  from  their 
connection  with  the  great  revolutions  which  occurred  in  France 
and  England.  The  wars  between  the  two  kingdoms  had  been  car- 
ried on  with  various  success  throughout  the  last  century.  Edward 
III.,  claimed  the  crown  of  France,  in  right  of  his  mother  Isabel,  as 
an  elder  branch  of  the  Capetian  family,  in  prejudice  to  the  claims 
of  FhiHp  VI.,  of  the  house  of  Valois.  Calais  was  taken  by  Ed- 
ward, wiio  also  advanced  to  Faris,  and  defeated  Fhilip  in  the  bat- 
tle of  Crecy.  The  Black  Frince  subdued  the  southern  provinces, 
and  his  father  overran  Ficardy  and  Artois,  in  the  north.  By  the 
decided  victory  won  at  Foictiers,  the  French  king,  John,  was  taken 
prisoner  and  sent  to  England.  In  1368,  the  French  recovered  al- 
most all  the  places  conquered  by  the  English.  In  the  commence- 
ment of  this  century,  a  civil  war  broke  out  in  France,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  rival  claims  of  the  houses  of  Orleans  and  Burgundy. 
In  the  year  1415,  Henry  V.  invaded  France,  and  obtained  a  signal 
victory  at  Agincourt.  By  a  treaty  at  Troyes,  he  is  acknowledged 
heir  of  the  crown  of  France;  and  in  1422,  his  son  Henry  VI.,  is 
crowned  king  of  France  in  Faris.  But  a  reverse  of  fortune  soon 
after  accompanied  the  English  forces,  when  opposed  by  the  cele- 
brated Joan  of  Arc,  or  the  Maid  of  Orleans.  They  were  driven 
from  the  siege  of  that  city,  and  in  1436,  were  expelled  from  Faris. 
Guienne,  which  had  been  an  English  province  from  the  reign  of 
Henry  II.,  in  the  twelfth  century,  was  annexed  to  France  by  the 
prowess  of  Dunois.  Normandy  was  regained  by  the  battle  of 
Formigny.  In  1450,  the  English  were  dispossessed  of  all  their 
territories  in  France.^  In  this  year,  the  civil  war  in  England  com- 
menced, between  the  two  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster.  This 
was  continued  until  the  year  1485,  when  at  the  battle  of  Bos  worth, 
Richard  III.  was  killed,  and  Henry  VII.  ascended  the  throne.  So 
fatal  was  this  war,  that  nearly  all  the  princes  of  those  families  were 
killed. 

At  the  close  of  this  century,  the  throne  of  France  was  in  the 
possession  of  the  house  of  Orleans,  in  the  person  of  Louis  XII. ; 
that  of  England,  of  the  house  of  Tudor,  in  the  person  of  Henry 
VII.;  that  of  Germany,  in  the  person  of  Maximilian  I.,  of  Austria. 
The  crowns  of  France  and  England  are  both  hereditary,  that  of 
Germany  was  elective. 

The  celebrated  constitution,  known  as  the  Golden  Bull,  from  the 

'Except  Calais  and  Guignes. 


260  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  centUTj. 

seal  attaclied  to  it,  was  planned  in  a  diet^  at  Nuremberg,  in  the  year 
1355,  and  published  the  following  year.  This  was  the  fundamental 
law  of  the  German  empire.  In  explanation  of  this  constitution, 
which  defined  the  powers  of  the  electoral  college,  a  few  prelimi- 
nary remarks  will  be  made  in  reference  to  the  early  history  of  the 
succession  to  the  throne. 

France  and  Germany  were  united  by  Charlemagne,  who  was 
crowned  emperor  of  the  West  by  Pope  Leo  III.,  in  the  year  800. 
These  kingdoms  were  severed  in  888,  at  the  death  of  Charles  the 
Fat,  the  great-grand-son  of  Charlemagne.  The  crown  descended 
by  hereditary  succession,  from  the  founder  of  the  empire  to  this 
last  sovereign.  After  his  death,  Charles  the  Simple,  who  was  in 
the  fourth  descent  from  Charlemagne,  should  have  been  elevated, 
by  hereditary  right  to  the  imperial  throne;  but  Arnold,  an  illegiti- 
mate descendant  through  an  elder  branch  of  the  Carlovingian  fam- 
ily, was  chosen  by  the  German  nations.  Charles  the  Simple,  re- 
mained king  of  France.  After  the  death  of  Conrad  I.,  (his  grand- 
son,) without  issue,  Henry  I.,  also  his  grandson  by  the  female  line, 
succeeded  to  the  empire.  From  him,  it  lineally  descended  for  four 
generations.  Henry  II.,  the  last  of  this  Saxon  line,  succeeded  by 
a  species  of  hereditary  and  divine  right,  (as  it  was  expressed, 
Christi  adjutorio,  et  jure  haereditario.)  After  his  death,  the  Saxon 
family  becoming  extinct,  the  succession  returned  to  the  lineal  de- 
scendant of  Arnold,  in  the  person  of  Conrad  II.,  of  the  house  of 
Franconia.  Through  this  family  the  crown  lineally  descended  to 
Henry  V.,  the  last  of  the  male  line.  Here  the  rule  of  succession 
was  suspended ;  and  instead  of  Frederick,  duke  of  Suabia,  being 
elevated  to  the  throne,  a  distant  branch  of  the  Saxon  line  was  sub- 
stituted, and  the  crown  devolved  on  Lothaire  II.  It  was  at  this 
period  then,  we  find  the  succession  based  upon  a  principle  more 
purely  elective. 

Previous  then,  to  the  year  1 125,  the  imperial  throne  may  be  said 
to  have  been  really  hereditary,  although,  agreeably  to  the  theory 
of  the  government,  something  of  the  popular  assent  was  considered 
necessary  to  establish  the  validity  of  the  claim.  In  the  election  of 
Lothaire,  the  princes  submitted  the  choice  to  ten  persons  in  whose 
judgment  they  promised  to  confide.  From  this  period  there  are 
traces  of  an  electoral  college  consisting  of  a  definite  number  of 
persons,  to  the  reign  of  Otlio  IV.,  when  that  number  was  finally 

'The  diet  was  llie  National  Asseti)bly  of  Germany,  and  was  convened  under  the 
antliority  of  the  emperor,  customarily  twice  every  year.  The  three  clianibers  of 
which  it  was  composed,  were  tiie  collojrn  of  electors,  tlie  benches  of  the  teinpora!  and 
spiritual  princes,  the  representative  body  of  the  imperial  cities.  The  sovereign  and 
the  diet,  constituted  tlie  supreme  legislature  of  the  empire.  What  was  in  more 
modern  times  termed  the  diet  of  "  the  Germanic  Confederation,"  was  composed  of 
plenipotentiaries  assembled  at  Frankfort,  on  the  Maine.  This  confederation  was 
formed  at  the  congress  of  Vienna,  in  1815,  in  the  place  of  the  ancient  imperial  gov- 
ernment dissolved  in  1806. 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  261 

limited  to  seven.  Of  these,  tlirce  were  spiritual,  and  four  were 
temporal  princes.  Tlie  arch-bishops  of  Mentz,  of  Treves,  and  of 
Cologne,  were  the  spiritual  elector^;  and  the  duke  of  Saxonj^  the 
count  Palatine  of  the  Rhine,  the  king  of  Bohemia,  and  the  Mar- 
grave of  Brandenburg,  were  the  temporal.  By  the  golden  bull, 
peculiar  rights  and  honors  were  conferred  upon  the  seven  electors. 
They  were  constituted  the  first  officers  of  the  empire.  In  the  event 
of  an  interregnum,  the  duke  of  Saxony,  and  the  count  Palatine  of 
the  Rhine,  were  to  act  as  vicars  of  the  empire  until  the  vacancy 
was  filled  by  an  election.  Frankfort  was  designated  as  the  place 
for  holding  the  elections;  Aix-la-chapelle,  as  that  of  coronation ; 
and  Nuremburg,  as  that  where  every  new  emperor  should  hold  his 
first  court.  The  arch-bishop  of  Cologne,  was  to  perform  the  cer- 
emony of  coronation.  The  electors,  however,  assumed  the  power 
of  deposing,  as  well  as  that  of  elevating,  and  exercised  it  against 
Adolphus  Nassau,  in  1298,  for  having  received  money  from  Eng- 
land, to  make  war  against  France.  In  1347,  being  dissatisfied  with 
Charles  IV.,  of  the  house  of  Luxemburg,  they  oiiered  the  crown 
successively  to  Edward  III.,  king  of  England,  who  refused  it,  to 
Frederick  of  Thuringia,  and  to  Louis  of  Brandenburg,  who  both 
sold  their  right  to  Charles.  In  1400,  four  of  the  electors  deposed 
Winceslaus,  son  of  Charles,  and  first  elected  Frederick  of  Bruns- 
wick ;  but  he  being  assassinated  soon  alter,  they  chose  Robert 
count  Palatine.  In  the  year  1338,  the  princes  and  states  of  the 
empire,  disgusted  with  the  obstinacy  of  the  popes,  John  XXII.  and 
Benedict  XII.,  in  their  controversy  with  the  emperor,  Louis  of  Ba- 
varia, declared  that  prince  released  from  the  excommunication 
which  had  been  pronounced  against  him  by  those  pontill's,  and  the 
electors,  in  an  assembly  at  Reuse,  "  obligated  themselves  unani- 
mously to  maintain,  protect,  and  defend  the  empire  and  their  prince- 
ly honor,  in  the  electiveness  of  the  empire,  in  its  rights  and  their 
own,  with  all  their  authority  and  power,  without  any  exception." 
In  the  course  of  the  same  year,  "  it  was  most  solemnly  declared, 
by  a  general  law  of  the  empire,  published  by  a  diet  at  Frankfort, 
that  the  imperial  dignity  and  power  are  immediately  from  God; 
that  whoever  is  elected  king  or  emperor,  by  all  or  by  the  majority 
of  the  electors,  needs  no  papal  sanction,  but  is  king  or  emperor  by 
virtue  of  the  election ;  that  in  case  of  an  interregnum,  the  vicarate 
belongs  to  the  elector  of  the  Palatinate."  In  the  year  1339,  they 
confirmed  what  they  had  thus  published,  and  added,  "  that  there  is 
no  difierence  between  a  Roman  king  crowned  in  Germany,  and  a 
Roman  emperor  crowned  in  Rome,  and  that,  in  case  of  the  refusal 
of  the  pope,  every  bishop  is  authorized  to  officiate  at  the  corona- 
tion." This  measure  operated  as  a  signal  check  to  the  usurpations 
of  the  pontiffs  ;  and  would  have  been  mentioned  in  connection  with 
the  events  of  the  fourteenth  century,  but  it  was  supposed,  that  it 


262  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  centuiy. 

would  be  more  appropriately  introduced  in  a  review  of  events  of  a 
political  character. 

Switzerland  was  anciently  embraced  within  the  kingdom  of  Bur- 
gundy, or  Aries.  About  the  year  1032,  it  was  united  to  the  Ger- 
man empire.  Its  inhabitants  have  always  been  distinguished  for 
their  bravery  and  love  of  liberty.  The  country  has  been  described 
as  "  composed  of  high  mountains  and  deep  valleys,  interspersed 
with  beautiful  lakes,  and  abounding  with  the  wildest  and  most  pic- 
turesque scenery.  The  Alps  run  along  the  whole  southern  bound- 
ary, and  their  summits  and  ridges  are  covered  with  glaciers  or  fields 
of  ice  of  vast  extent  and  magnificence."  It  was  not  before  the 
twelfth  century,  that  the  cities  of  Switzerland  assumed  an  import- 
ance in  the  political  affairs  of  Europe.  Frederick  II.  raised  the 
cities  of  Friburg  and  Zurich  to  the  rights  and  immunities  of  free, 
imperial  cities.  The  latter  was  eminent  for  its  commercial  activi- 
ty. The  cantons  into  which  it  is  divided,  are  so  many  independent 
republics  united  by  a  confederacy,  and  governed  by  a  general  diet. 
This  assembly  is  composed  of  representatives  from  the  several 
cantons ;  and  is  convened  every  two  years,  alternately  at  Zurich, 
Berne,  and  Lucerne.  These  are  called  presiding  cantons;  and  the 
governor  of  the  presiding  canton,  for  the  time  being,  is  called  the 
Landamman  of  Switzerland.  Each  canton  has  one  vote  in  the  diet. 
There  are  now  twenty-two  of  these,  Berne,  Aargau,  Basle,  Schaff- 
hausen,  Zurich,  Vaud,  Grisons,  St.  Gall,  Tesin,  Thurgau,  Valais, 
Geneva,  Neufchatel,  Lucerne,  Underwalden,  Uri,  Schweitz,  Fri- 
burg, Zug,  Soleure,  Glaris,  and  Appenzel.  The  battle  of  Morgar- 
ten  in  1315,  secured  to  the  cantons  which  revolted  against  the  op- 
pressive government  of  the  empire,  a  permanent  independence. — 
With  this  confederacy  the  other  cantons  successively  united  ;  and 
still  maintain  their  civil  and  religious  liberties  as  independent  states. 

The  republic  of  Switzerland  dates  its  existence  from  the  year 
1308.  Schweitz,  Uri,  and  Underwalden,  aroused  to  a  sense  of  the 
arbitrary  measures  of  Albert  I.,  by  William  Tell,  first  took  up 
arms,  and  expelled  the  governor,  Griesler,  from  the  country.  In 
1332,  Lucerne  was  received  into  the  confederacy;  and  about  twen- 
ty years  after,  Zurich,  Zug,  Glaris,  and  Berne,  became  united  with 
them,  and  these  formed  in  1353,  the  eight  ancient  cantons.  From 
this  period  they  extended  their  conquests;  and  in  1417,  the  house 
of  Austria  yielded  the  last  remnant  of  their  ancient  Helvetic  terri- 
tories. Separate  confederacies  were  formed  by  the  other  cantons, 
which,  although  still  nominally  under  the  sovereignty  of  the  em- 
pire, were  in  fact  independent.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1513, 
that  Appenzel  becoming  incorporated,  Friburg,  Soleure,  Basle,  and 
Schafiliausen,  having  previously  become  members,  that  the  league 
of  thirteen  indepeiulent  cantons  was  completed.  They  were  ac- 
knowledged to  be  free  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  imperial  cham- 
ber, and  from  all  contributions  imposed  by  the  diet.     By  the  treaty 


15t!i  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  263 

of  Westphalia,  in  1648,  tiieir  independence,  with  the  remaining 
cantons,^  was  formally  recognized. 

By  their  civil  institutions,  the  freedom  of  public  discussions  was 
better  secured  than  in  any  other  state  in  Europe ;  and  hence  it  was 
that  the  principles  of  the  Reformation,  in  the  sixteenth  century, 
were  early  implanted  in  the  cities,  as  in  Geneva  and  Zuricli,  in 
which  literature  was  most  flourishing.  Tiie  new  doctrines  were 
preached  with  boldness  and  faithfulness,  by  Zwingle  and  his  coad- 
jutors; and  their  reception  was  the  result  of  rational  conviction 
from  the  force  of  truth. 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  remark  here,  that  the  religion  of 
Switzerland  partakes  very  equally  of  the  protestant  and  papal  doc- 
trines, in  our  times.  The  cantons  decidedly  protestant,  are  Gene- 
va, Berne,  Schaffhausen,  Neufchatel,  Basle,  Glaris,  Zurich,  Vaud, 
Thurgau.  Those  attached  to  the  popish  church,  are  Lucerne, 
Schweitz,  Tesino,  Soleure,  Friburg,  Uri,  Underwalden,  Valais, 
Zug.  The  cantons  of  Appenzel,  Grisons,  St.  Gall,  and  Aargau  are 
supposed  to  be  very  nearly  equally  divided  between  the  two 
churches.     In  Geneva,  however,  there  are  about  15,000  papists. 

In  the  general  sketch  which  is  here  given  of  the  history  of  those 
nations  which  participated  in  the  events  connected  with  the  pro- 
gress of  the  Reformation  from  this  period,  the  country  of  the  Neth- 
erlands should  not  be  omitted.  This  embraces  the  two  kingdoms 
of  Holland  and  Belgium.  It  was  once  united  to  Germany,  but  in 
the  beginning  of  the  tenth  century,  it  became  independent,  and  was 
governed  by  counts,  or  earls ;  and  was  divided  into  many  small 
principalities.  In  the  year  1443,  they  became  subject  to  the  duke 
of  Burgundy.  With  the  heiress  of  Burgundy,  the  Netherlands 
passed  to  the  house  of  Austria ;  Maximilian  I.  having  married  the 
last  female  issue  of  that  family.  From  him  the  inheritance  de- 
scended to  his  grand-son,  Charles  V.,  who  in  1555  resigned  this 
country  to  his  son  Philip  II.,  king  of  Spain.  The  government  of 
Holland,  and  some  of  the  contiguous  provinces,  were  intrusted  to 
William,  prince  of  Orange,  a  count  of  the  German  empire.  In 
consequence,  however,  of  the  progress  of  the  new  doctrines,  as 
they  were  called,  Philip  established  the  inquisition  with  a  view  of 
suppressing  them.  This  occasioned  a  revolt,  which  was  encour- 
aged by  Wilham.  Having  reduced  some  of  the  strongest  garri- 
sons, he  was  proclaimed  Stadtholder,  (Dut.  Stadhouder,  City-liold- 
er,)  or  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  forces.  From  jealousies 
which  sprung  up  among  the  provinces,  although  all  had  suffered 
alike,  seven  only  united ;  and,  by  a  solemn  treaty  at  L  trecht,  in 
the  year  1579,  pledged  their  faith  in  the  defense  of  tiieir  liberties. 
Tiiese  were  the  provinces  of  Holland,  Guelderland,  Zealand,  Fries- 

'The  cantons  of  Valais,  Geneva,  and  Neufchatel,  might  not  he  considered  as  em- 
braced within  the  Hnlvetic  republic,  before  the  year  1815,  when  tlie  ancient  confed- 
eration was  restored. 


264  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  ccntwry. 

land,  Utrecht,  Overyssel,  and  Groningen.  But  the  history  of  these 
events  will  be  resumed  in  its  proper  place. 

In  the  year  1453,  Constantinople  was  taken  by  the  forces  under 
Mahomet  II.,  and  became  the  seat  of  the  Ottoman  empire.  In 
1492,  the  Moors  were  finally  expelled  from  Spain.  In  the  same 
year  America  was  discovered.  But  the  most  memorable  event  of 
this  century,  was  the  invention  of  the  art  of  printing  with  mova- 
ble types.  This  formed  a  new  epoch  in  the  art ;  which  w^as  pro- 
ductive of  the  most  happy  results,  by  its  influence  on  the  progress 
of  literature  and  the  reformation  in  religion.  The  first  book  print- 
ed with  types  of  metal,  was  the  vulgate  Bible,  at  Mentz,  in  1450. 
In  1457,  the  Psalter  was  published  by  Faust  and  Schoefier.  Be- 
fore the  year  1500,  more  than  220  printing  presses  were  erected  in 
the  different  states  of  Europe.  In  1465,  types  of  Greek  letters 
were  founded;  and  in  1467,  the  familiar  epistles  of  Cicero  were 
published  in  Roman  characters.  "  The  art,"  says  a  writer,  "  start- 
ed into  publicity,  in  a  state  of  perfection." 

The  destruction  of  the  Greek  empire  by  the  conquests  of  Ma- 
homet II.,  and  the  banishment  of  Grecian  literature  from  the  East, 
gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  study  of  that  language  in  the  West. 
There  were  many  eminent  Greek  writers  of  this  age,  who,  driven 
from  Constantinople,  took  up  their  residence  in  the  western  states 
of  Europe,  and  thus  infused  a  love  of  learning,  and  a  taste  for  the 
cultivation  of  polite  literature.  They  were  dispersed  through  Ger- 
many, France,  and  particularly  Italy,  from  the  patronage  then  ex- 
tended to  letters  by  the  king  of  Naples,  and  the  family  of  the  Me- 
dici, and  were  employed  not  only  in  the  translation  of  ancient  au- 
thors, but  also  in  the  instruction  of  youth  in  the  schools  and  univer- 
sities. This  age  also  produced  Latin  writers,  who  acquired  dis- 
tinction by  their  literary  productions.  Among  these,  John  Wes- 
selus  and  Jerome  Savanarola  are  particularly  worthy  of  commen- 
dation for  their  enlightened  views  on  religious  liberty  and  the  rights 
of  conscience.  The  former,  on  account  of  his  great  erudition,  and 
his  peculiar  talent  for  elucidation,  was  called  the  "  Light  of  the 
world."  In  his  theological  discussions  he  advanced  many  of  those 
doctrines,  which  in  the  succeeding  century,  formed  the  basis  of  the 
Protestant  religion.  He  is  justly  entitled  to  the  rank  of  a  distin- 
guished reformer  of  the  fifteenth  century.  He  not  only  presented 
clear  views  of  Scriptural  truths,  but  he  exposed  with  equal  force 
and  felicity,  the  corrui)tions  of  the  Romish  church.  Savanarola 
was  eminent  for  his  piety,  as  well  as  for  his  high  attainments  in  lit- 
erature. The  vices  of  the  clergy  were  the  subjects  of  his  public 
animadversion;  and  the  powers  of  his  eloquence,  which  were  im- 
pressive, were  fearlessly  directed  against  the  abuses  of  the  papal 
hierarchy.  He  fell  a  victim  to  his  temerity.  He  was  committed 
to  the  flames  under  a  conviction  for  heresy;  and  died  with  the  for- 
titude and  resignation  of  a  Christian  martyr. 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  265 

In  this  century  flourished  a  new  religious  order,  known  as  the 
*'  Brethren  and  Clerks  of  the  common  life."  To  this  fraternity 
may  in  no  inconsiderable  degree  be  attributed  the  progress  of  learn- 
ing, and  the  triumph  of  reform  principles.  It  was  one  of  the  great 
moral  agents  which  Providence  seems  to  have  raised  up  for  the  ap- 
proaching consummation  of  the  work  of  spiritual  emancipation. 
Gerard  de  Groote  had  laid  the  foundation  of  this  society  in  the 
preceding  century,  but  it  assumed  an  importance  in  this  age,  from 
the  countenance  given  to  it  by  the  council  of  Constance.  Its 
branches  were  extended  into  Holland  and  Lower  Germany ;  and 
under  its  fostering  care  and  patronage,  arose  many  of  the  most  cel- 
ebrated schools  of  that  period.  The  Clerks  were  devoted  to  lit- 
erary pursuits  and  to  the  instruction  of  youth.  From  their  institu- 
tions proceeded  Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  Alexander  Hegius,  John 
Murmelius,  and  others  of  high  literary  attainments,  who  were  dis- 
tinguished scholars,  and  the  ornaments  of  their  age.  Nor  were 
they  negligent  of  the  mental  improvement  and  education  of  the  fe- 
male sex.  Seminaries  were  established  for  their  instruction,  under 
the  supervision  of  competent  teachers ;  and  branches  of  industry 
suitable  to  their  sex,  were  also  objects  of  their  attention.  Proba- 
bly no  other  cause,  separately  considered,  operated  with  more  suc- 
cess in  producing  a  permanent  improvement  in  the  morals  and  learn- 
ing of  the  age,  than  this  society.  The  Brethren  and  Clerks  of  the 
common  life,  were  soon  stigmatized  by  the  monks  and  clergy,  with 
the  epithets  of  Lollards,  Beghards,  &c.  and  every  effort  was  made 
to  suppress  this  praiseworthy  and  disinterested  association,  until 
it  was  finally  accomplished  through  the  instrumentality  of  the  Jes- 
uits. 

This  was  truly  an  age  of  revival  in  Europe.  Universities  and 
schools  were  multiplied.  Those  of  Leipsic,  of  Ingoldstadt,  of 
Glasgow,  of  Upsal,  of  Turin,  of  Copenhagen,  and  of  many  other 
cities,  were  founded  in  this  century.  The  facility  of  publishing 
the  productions  of  ancient  and  modern  authors,  by  the  recent  im- 
provements in  the  printing-press,  excited  a  new  ardor  in  literary 
pursuits.  All  classes  of  society  seem  to  have  been  placed  in  an  at- 
titude, each  to  ascend  a  step  higher  in  the  scale  of  moral  dignity. 
But  there  was  one,  and  that  exercising  an  almost  irresistible  con- 
trol over  the  public  mind,  which  interposed  its  influence  to  arrest 
the  general  impulse. 

The  church  of  Rome,  that  incubus  on  society,  that  moral  poison 
which  had  for  centuries  corrupted  the  pure  stream  of  spiritual 
knowledge,  was  now  an  active  agent  in  the  work  of  demoraliza- 
tion. "  The  purification  of  faith,  did  not  proceed  from  the  major- 
ity of  the  doctors  of  the  Church,  from  the  hierarchical  dignitaries 
no  more  than  from  the  multitude  of  common  ecclesiastics.  On  the 
contrary,  both  classes  opposed  the  luminously  progressing  spirit  of 
the  time,  in  part  with  open  hostility,  in  part  they  checked  its  odious 


266  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  centuiy, 

advancement  by  iniquitous  intrigues ;  in  part  they  fled,  amazed  at 
the  unusual  light,  back  into  still  thicker  darkness.  The  mass  of 
superstitious  statutes  and  religious  abuses,  already  existing,  was 
augmented  by  new  ones,  partly  by  the  actual  command  of  the  hier- 
archs  to  announce  them  publicly,  partly  by  their  secret  favor,  or  by 
tacit  approbation  of  the  false  doctrines  of  particular  zealots,  and 
the  follies  of  a  superstitious  or  fanatical  populace."  (Rotteck.)  For 
centuries  the  principles  of  the  Reformation  had  pursued  their  steady 
progress  against  the  combined  etlbrts  of  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
authorities.  The  contests  between  the  pontilfs  and  the  princes  of 
Europe  had  never  been  sustained  by  tlie  latter  with  a  view  to  any 
radical  change  of  tlie  established  religion,  or  its  purification  from 
the  corruptions  which  had  destroyed  its  spirituality.  The  conflicts 
were  those  of  antagonist  powers,  arising  from  a  spirit  of  aggres- 
sion on  the  one  part,  and  a  defensive  principle  on  the  other.  The 
parliament,  which  in  the  reign  of  Henry  V.  of  England,  proposed 
to  the  king  to  seize  the  ecclesiastical  revenues  and  appropriate  them 
to  the  use  of  the  crown,  enacted  severe  laws  against  the  doctrines 
of  Wickliff'e,  declaring  that  "  whoever  was  convicted  of  LoUardy 
before  the  ordinary ;  besides  suffering  capital  punishment,  according 
to  the  laws  formerly  established,  should  also  forfeit  his  lands  and 
goods  to  the  king;  and  that  the  chancellor,  treasurer,  justices  of 
the  two  benches,  sheriffs,  justices  of  the  peace,  and  all  the  chief 
magistrates  in  every  city  and  borough,  should  take  an  oatii,  to  use 
their  utmost  endeavors  for  the  extirpation  of  heresy."  In  France, 
the  liberties  of  the  Gallican  church,  founded,  as  we  have  already 
mentioned,  on  the  edict  of  Louis  IX.,  and  confirmed  by  the  boast- 
ed pragmatic  sanction  of  Bourges,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  VII.  and 
in  the  middle  of  this  century,  secured  no  guarantees  to  those  prin- 
ciples which  struck  at  the  root  of  popish  iniquities.  It  is  true  that 
these  measures  were  subsidiary  to  the  great  efforts  made  by  the  Re- 
formers in  those  times;  but  this  result  was  neither  intended  nor  an- 
ticipated by  the  monarchs  who  maintained  them.  The  Reformation 
had  continually  advanced  from  age  to  age,  towards  its  final  con- 
summation, not  by  the  countenance  and  sustaining  arm  of  the  gov- 
ernments of  Europe,  but  in  opposition  to,  and  in  defiance  of  their 
unceasing  efforts  to  suppress,  and  even  to  annihilate  it.  The  force 
of  truth  was  in  conflict  with  the  political  and  ecclesiastical  institu- 
tion of  Christendom,  and  eventually  triumphed.  Science  was  the 
mighty  weapon,  under  the  Providence  of  God,  which  achieved  the 
victory.  Tlie  conquest  was  the  achievement  of  the  intellect,  en- 
lightened by  knowledge  and  the  truth  of  God's  Word.  Before  the 
energies  of  this  power,  earthly  potentates  succumbed,  and  the 
proud  hierarch  of  Rome  was  prostrated  in  the  dust. 

When  therefore,  we  take  a  dispassionate  and  calm  survey  of  the 
state  of  society  in  the  beginning  of  this  century,  our  astoni:»hment 
is,  that  the  accomplishment  of  the  great  wgrk  of  religious  reform, 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  267 

was  protracted  beyond  the  period  of  an  hundred  years.  To  this 
condition  of  state  and  church  we  will  now  revert  by  resuming  the 
subject  of  our  history. 

"  The  state  of  religion,"  says  Mosheim,'  "  was  become  so  cor- 
rupt among  the  Latins,  that  it  was  utterly  destitute  of  any  thing 
that  could  attract  the  esteem  of  the  truly  virtuous  and  judicious 
part  of  mankind.  This  is  a  fact  which  even  they,  whose  prejudices 
render  them  unwilling  to  acknowledge  it,  will  not  deny.  The  wor- 
ship of  the  deity  consisted  in  a  round  of  insipid  and  frivolous  cere- 
monies. The  discourses  of  those  who  instructed  the  people  in 
public,  were  not  only  destitute  of  sense,  judgment,  and  spirit,  but 
even  of  piety  and  devotion,  and  were  in  reality,  nothing  more  than 
a  motley  mixture  of  the  grossest  fictions,  and  the  most  extravagant 
inventions."  Those  who  were  the  most  obsequious  to  the  authori- 
ty of  the  popes,  who  were  the  most  liberal  in  their  donations  to 
the  Church,  who  could  pay  with  a  profuse  hand  for  indulgences, 
were  most  rigid  in  their  observances  of  the  rites  and  ceremonies 
prescribed  by  the  ecclesiastical  authority,  could  assume  an  appear- 
ance of  unaffected  sanctimony,  and  perform  their  penances  with  the 
air  of  devout  humility,  such  were  esteemed  the  most  sincere  Chris- 
tians; and  were  sometimes  honored  after  death  with  a  niche  in  the 
temple  of  canonized  saints.  With  this  true  picture  of  the  general 
depravity  which  prevailed,  and  of  the  low  standard  of  piety  which 
the  Church  had  itself  established,  we  can  very  readily  suppose 
how  degraded  and  corrupt  the  clergy  had  become.  We  are  in- 
formed by  the  historian  to  whom  I  have  referred,  that  "  The  vices 
which  reigned  among  the  Roman  pontiffs,  and  indeed,  among  all 
the  ecclesiastical  orders,  were  so  flagrant  that  the  complaints  of 
the  most  eminent  writers  of  this  century  did  not  appear  at  ail  ex- 
aggerated. The  more  eminent  rulers  of  the  Church,  who  lived  in 
a  luxurious  indolence,  and  in  the  infamous  practice  of  all  kinds  of 
vice,  were  obliged  to  hear  with  a  placid  countenance,  and  even  to 
commend  these  bold  censors,  who  declaimed  against  the  degenera- 
cy of  the  Church,  declared  that  there  was  almost  nothing  sound, 
either  in  its  visible  head  or  in  its  members,  and  demanded  the  aid 
of  the  secular  arm,  and  the  destroying  sword,  to  lop  off  the  parts 
that  were  infected  with  this  grievous  and  deplorable  contagion. 
The  most  eminent  writers  of  this  century,  unanimously  lament  the 
miserable  condition  to  which  the  Christian  Church  was  reduced  by 
the  corruption  of  its  ministers,  and  which  seemed  to  portend  noth- 
ing less  than  its  total  ruin,  if  Providence  did  not  interpose  by  ex- 
traordinary means,  for  its  deliverance  and  preservation." 

The  schism  which  had  arisen  in  the  last  century,  after  the  death 
of  Gregory  XI.,  in  the  year  1378,  was  not  healed  at  the  commence- 
ment of  this;  but  had  become  apparently  irremediable  by  the  ob- 

'  Eccles.  Hist.  IStli  cent, 


268  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [ISth  centuiy. 

stinacy  of  the  contending  pontiffs.  The  Church  was  divided. — . 
Two  claimants  asserted  the  right  to  the  chair  of  St.  Peter,  and  ful- 
minated against  each  other  the  most  bitter  anathemas.  Boniface 
IX.  died  in  the  year  1404,  but  the  Italian  interest  was  irreconcila- 
ble to  his  surviving  enemy,  and  the  cardinals  of  that  party  elevated 
as  his  successor,  Cosmat  de  Meliorali,  who  occupied  the  disputed 
seat  as  Innocent  VII.  In  the  meantime,  Benedict  XHI.  remained  at 
Avignon,  exercising  the  papal  prerogatives  over  that  portion  of  the 
Church,  which  sustained  his  pretensions.  Innocent  died  two  years 
after  his  accession,  and  was  succeeded  by  Gregory  XII.  The  ex- 
pense of  supporting  two  vicars  in  the  aj)ostolic  see,  by  double  tax- 
ation, was  too  grievous  to  be  borne  with  patience,  and  a  general 
dissatisfaction  prevailed.  With  a  view  of  terminating  this  contro- 
versy, Benedict  and  Gregory  bound  themselves  by  a  solemn  oath 
to  renounce  their  respective  claims;  but  with  characteristic  duplic- 
ity neither  evinced  a  sincere  wish  to  restore  harmony  to  the  Church  ;, 
and  were  at  length  suspected  by  all  parties  of  having  acted  in  con- 
cert for  t[)e  purpose  of  retaining  their  respective  stations.  A  coun- 
cil assembled  at  Pisa  in  the  year  1409,  and  declared  them  both 
"Guilty  of  heresy,  perjury,  and  contumacy,  unworthy  of  the 
smallest  tokens  of  honor  or  respect,  and  separated  ipso  facto  from 
the  communion  of  the  Church."  Having  thus  deposed  and  excom- 
municated them  botli,  Peter  of  Candia,  or  Alexander  V.,  was  elec- 
ted pope.  These  measures  however,  failed  to  accomplish  the  ob- 
ject intended,  as  there  were  then  three  popes,  each  claiming  to  be 
the  rightful  apostolic  successor.  Benedict  assembled  a  council  at 
Perpignan ;  and  Gregory  another  at  Austria,  near  Aquileia.  In  the 
following  year,  Alexander  died,  and  sixteen  cardinals  met  in  con- 
clave, and  elected  as  his  successor,  Balthasar  Cossa,  who  assumed 
the  title  of  John  XXIII.  John  is  represented  by  the  historian  as 
"  having  been  destitute  of  all  principles,  both  of  religion  and  pro- 
bity." 

In  the  year  1414,  that  council  which  is  memorable  in  history  for 
having  burnt  Huss  and  Jerome,  assembled  at  Constance,  by  the  au- 
thority of  John.  This  is  considered  the  seventeenth  ecumenical 
council  of  the  papal  church.  John  a[)])cared  in  person  with  a  great 
number  of  cardinals  and  bishops.  The  emperor  Sigisniund,  and 
many  of  the  German  princes,  as  well  as  the  ambassadors  from  the 
European  states,  were  also  present.  The  gieat  object  in  view,  was 
to  restore  harmony  to  the  Church,  or  in  other  words,  to  reform  the 
Church  in  its  head  and  members.  Among  its  first  measures  was  a 
decree,  that  "  The  pontitf  is  inferior,  and  subject  to  an  ecumenical 
council."  This  was  evidently  a  novel  principle ;  and  was  a  sub- 
version of  that  gigantic  structure,  which  the  popes  for  more  than 
a  thousand  years,  had  successively  labored  to  build  up.  It  was 
however  a  contribution,  perliaps  unwillingly  made,  to  ap])case  the 
general  discontent  which  pervaded  all  classes  under  the  exorbitant 


ISth  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  269 

powers  exercised  by  the  pontiffs  ;  and  was,  moreover,  a  signal  con- 
cession by  the  highest  ecclesiastical  judicatory  to  the  principles  of 
the  Reformation.  Another  innovation  of  a  similar  character  and 
tendency,  was  the  admission  into  the  convention,  as  constituent 
members  of  the  assembly,  ambassadors  of  all  Christian  princes,  the 
deputies  of  universities,  and  a  multitude  of  inferior  theologians,  and 
even  doctors  of  the  law.  Ecumenical  conventions  had  previously 
been  composed  altogether  of  the  highest  orders  of  ecclesiastics. 
By  this  new  organization,  the  rights  of  the  laity,  for  ages  past  ob- 
literated, were  recognized  and  respected.  Another  severe  blow 
given  to  the  influence  which  the  popes  had  hitherto  exercised  over 
the  proceedings  of  the  councils,  was  by  another  feature  in  the  or- 
ganization which  paralyzed  the  numerical  strength  of  tlie  Italian 
bishops  and  cardinals,  the  voting  by  nations. 

The  council  of  Constance  having  solemnly  decreed,  that  "  By  a 
divine  right  it  had  an  authority  to  which  every  rank,  even  the  pa- 
pal, is  obliged  to  submit,  in  matters  of  faith,  in  the  extirpation  of 
the  present  schism,  and  in  the  reformation  of  the  Church,  both  in 
its  head  and  in  its  members;  and  that  every  person,  even  a  pope, 
who  shall  obstinately  refuse  to  obey  that  council,  or  any  other  law- 
fully assembled,  is  liable  to  such  punishment  as  may  be  inflicted," 
proceeded  to  the  exercise  of  the  high  prerogatives  with  which  it 
declared  itself  invested,  by  formally  deposing  John,  on  a  charge  of 
flagitious  crimes,  and  the  violation  of  his  pledged  faith,  in  refusing 
to  resign  the  papal  chair  agreeably  to  his  solemn  engagement.  The 
council  had  declared,  that  the  peace  of  the  Church  imperatively 
demanded  the  resignation  of  the  three  pontiffs.  John  had  consent- 
ed to  submit  the  validity  of  his  claim  to  its  decision,  but  when  he 
discovered  that  its  Judgment  would  be  unfavorable  to  his  preten- 
sions, he  effected  his  escape  through  the  assistance  of  duke  Fred- 
erick, of  Austria.  Having  deposed  the  pontiffs,  the  council  ex- 
communicated Frederick  for  having  aided  John^  in  his  flight  from 
Constance.  Gregory  soon  after  tendered  his  abdication ;  but  Ben- 
edict, who  held  his  court  at  Perpignan,  refused  to  acknowledge  the 
authority  of  the  council,  and  continued  to  exercise  the  papal  pre- 
rogatives. In  1417,  Otho  of  Colonna  was  elected  as  Martin  V., 
and  endeavored  by  his  machinations  and  intrigues  to  counteract  the 
efforts  of  the  council  to  reform  the  abuses  in  the  Church.  About 
five  months  after  his  elevation  he  dissolved  it.  Benedict  died  in 
1423;  and  the  cardinals,  who  had  attached  themselves  to  his  inter- 
est, elected  as  his  successor,  Giles  Monois,  or  Clement  VIII.,  who 
was  sustained  by  Alphonsus,  king  of  Sicily.     After  his  death,  in 

'John  was  confessedly  a  le^ilimato  pope;  and  it  i.s  still  questionable  whether  the 
act  of  deposition  was  williin  the  power  of  the  council.  lie  was  no  doubt  fully  con- 
victed of  fliirrant  vices;  but  these  have  never  been  considered  as  dis(i;iaIi(ications  for 
the  papal  chair,  rather,  as  appertaining  to  it.  Ho  was  afterward  appointed  by  Mar- 
tin, cardinal  bishop  of  Frascnli. 


270  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  century; 

1429,  Mavtin  became  the  undisputed  occupant  of  the  apostolic 
chair ;  and  not  until  this  period  can  this  schisna  be  said  to  have 
been  entirely  healed  ;  although  it  has  generally  been  considered  as 
removed  by  the  deposition  of  the  three  pontilFs,  and  the  election  of 
Martin. 

With  a  view  of  defeating  the  measures  of  reform  which  he  s-trenu- 
ously  opposed,  the  pontilf,  soon  after  the  dissolution  of  the  council, 
concluded  a  Concordat^  with  a  diet  of  the  German  electors  at  Frank- 
fort, in  1418  •,  by  which  he  still  retained  a  large  portion  of  his  re- 
cent usurpations.  A  diet  at  Mentz,  not  long  after,  adopted  mea- 
sures adverse  to  the  papal  interests. 

The  meeting  of  the  council  at  Constance,  was  an  epoch  in  the 
history  of  the  Church.  The  avowed  purpose  for  which  it  was 
convened — a  reformation  of  the  abuses  which  had  sprung  up^  under 
the  usurpations  of  the  popes,  and  the  vices  of  a  corrupt  clergy — 
was  a  public  admission,  which  must  have  strengthened  the  cause  of 
those  engaged  in  the  efl'orts  to  accomplish  a  more  spiritual  reforma- 
tion, than  was  consistent  with  the  safety  and  interest  of  the  popish 
hierarchy.  The  exposure  of  the  gross  immoralities  of  licentious 
ecclesiastics  and  the  deposition  of  a  pontiff,  legitimately  elected, 
for  flagitious  crimes,  were  circumstances  well  calculated  to  impress 
upon  the  public  mind  unfavorable  opinions  of  the  sanctity  of  the 
one  and  of  the  infallibility  of  the  other.  Boniface  IX.  had  also 
been  guilty  of  a  gross  traffic  of  his  patronage,  "  by  selling  the 
privileges,  of  exemptions  from  ordinary  juiisdiction,  of  holding 
benefices  in  commendam,  and  of  other  dispensations  invented  for 
the  benefit  of  the  Holy  See ;"  or,  in  other  words,  of  the  abominable 
sin  of  Simony. 

While  the  council  attempted  to  lop  off  with  one  hand  some  of 
the  prominent  excrescences  of  this  corrupt  system,  they  engrafted 
upon  it  with  the  other,  branches  equally  unsound,  and  which  have 
produced  the  bitter  fruits  of  the  parent  stock.  An  innovation  was 
introduced  in  the  rites  of  the  Church,  the  administration  of  the 
Lord's  Supper  with  the  bread  alone.  This  decree  was  passed  in 
the  year  1415,  and  since  that  period  the  laity  have  never  been  per- 
mitted to  partake  of  the  wine  in  the  holy  sacrament.  Although  it 
had  been  the  universally  established  practice  of  the  Church,  to  ad- 
minister the  elements  in  both  kinds  previous  to  this  time,  the  coun- 
cil of  Trent,  in  the  following  century,  confirmed  the  decree  by  de- 
claring, that  "  Whoever  thinks  it  necessary  to  receive  in  both 
kinds,  let  him  be  accursed ;"  and  a  deluded  papist  is  obliged  to 
confess,  in  direct  opposition  to  the  express  commands  of  our  Savior, 
that  "  Under  one  kind  only,  whole  and  entire,  Christ,  and  a  true 
sacrament,  is  taken  and  received."  "  The  cup  of  blessing,  which 
we  bless,"  says  the  apostle,  "  is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  blood 

'  "  A  concordat,  is  a  convention  or  agreement  between  tlio  pope,  as  head  of  the 
Church,  and  a  secular  government  on  ecclesiastical  matters." 


I5th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  271 

of  Christ?"  "After  the  same  manner  (as  Christ  had  given  the 
bread,)  he  also  took  the  cup,  saying,  this  cup  is  the  New  Testa- 
ment in  my  blood  ;  this  do  ye,  as  oft  as  ye  drink  it,  in  remembrance 
of  me."  This  sacrilegious  dispensing  with  the  imperative  injunc- 
tion of  the  great  Head  of  the  Church,  was  a  deviation  iVom  what 
had  been  the  constant  usage  from  the  days  of  the  apostles.  The 
bread  and  wine  are  both  administered  at  this  day  in  every  other 
Christian  Church,  Protestant,  Greek,  Armenian,  Ethiopian,  &c.,  and 
yet  that  church,  which  has  claimed  the  exclusive  title  of  universal, 
has  excluded  the  latter,  against  the  word  of  God.  When  the  sect 
of  the  Manichajans,  disturbed  the  unity  and  peace  of  the  Church 
in  the  primitive  ages,  the  communion  with  the  bread  alone  was  a 
peculiar  form  which  distinguished  them  from  the  other  denomina- 
tions of  Christians.  Leo  I.,  or  the  Great,  said  "  When  they  some- 
times are  present  at  our  mysteries,  that  so  they  may  hide  their  in- 
fidelity, they  so  order  the  matter,  in  their  participating  of  these 
mysteries,  that  they  receive  the  body  of  Christ  into  their  unworthy 
mouth,  but  will  not  take  into  it  one  drop  of  the  blood  of  our  re- 
demption."^ At  the  close  of  the  fifth  century,  Gelasius  declared 
this  refusal  to  partake  of  the  wine  a  superstitious  conceit,  and  pro- 
hibited such  from  approaching  the  communion  table,  "For  as 
much,"  said  he,  "  as  there  cannot,  without  very  great  sacrilege,  be 
any  division  made  in  one  and  the  same  mystery."  The  infallible 
church  has  thus  condemned  itself  of  ignorance,  heresy  and  sacri- 
lege. 

The  council  of  Constance,  assuming  and  exercising  the  high  pre- 
rogatives of  the  supreme  judicatory  of  the  Church,  made  an  authori- 
tative declaration  of  a  principle  wliich  had  been  received  as  funda- 
mental at  the  earliest  period  of  its  corruption,  which  was,  that  faith 
must  not  be  observed  with  heretics.  This  formal  expression  of  a 
creed  as  ancient  as  the  papal  church  itself,  and  long  before  inserted 
in  its  code  of  canon  laws,  was  made  in  the  application  of  the  prin- 
ciple to  the  case  of  John  IIuss,  who  had  attended  the  council  un- 
der a  passport  of  safety.  "  Nor  shall  any  faith  or  promise  be  ob- 
served towards  him,  by  natural,  divine  or  human  law,  to  the  preju- 
dice of  the  Catholic  (popish)  religion."  This  was  a  confirmation 
of  a  decree  which  had  been  issued  by  pope  Urban  VI.,  at  the  close 
of  the  preceding  century,  declaring  "That  compacts,  obligations, 
bonds,  or  agreements,  made  with  heretics  or  schismatics  after  they 
where  become  such,  are  rash;  they  are  unlawful,  and  ipso  jure  void 
(although,  it  so  happened  that  they  had  been  entered  into  or  made 
before  their  fall  into  schism  and  heresy,)  even  if  they  should  be 
confirmed  by  an  oath,  or  faith  pledged,  or  strengthened  by  apostolic 
ratification,  or  by  any  other  guarantee,  after  as  has  been  mentioned, 
they  are  become  such." 

'Daille,  on  the  FatliorB. 


272  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  ceiitury. 

This  council  had  not  accomplished  the  great  work  of  a  thoroogh 
reform  of  the  Church.  The  vices  of  the  clergy  were  not  corrected. 
All  their  efforts  to  effect  this  were  frustrated  by  the  intrigues  of 
Martin,  and  by  the  decided  opposition  of  the  ecclesiastics  to  every 
measure  calculated  or  intended  to  eradicate  the  evil.  "  The  car- 
dinals and  dignified  clergy,  whose  interest  it  w^as  that  the  Church 
should  remain  in  its  corrupt  and  disordered  state,  employed  all  their 
eloquence  and  art  to  prevent  its  reformation,"  To  remedy  this, 
another  ecumenical  council  was  convoked  by  Martin,  in  the  year 
1431.  Every  stratagem  had  been  resorted  to,  by  him  to  evade  the 
popular  voice  which  imperatively  demanded  renewed  efforts  to  pu- 
rify the  Church.  Pious  and  intelligent  men  perceived  the  necessity 
of  a  reform,  to  arrest  the  progress  of  what  they  termed  heresy  \, 
but  the  pontiff,  intimidated  by  the  bold  measures  adopted  at  Con- 
stance, felt  a  reluctance  to  renew  the  controversy  with  a  power 
which  had  already  triumphed  over  his  predecessors.  Martin,  how- 
ever, died  before  the  council  was  organized;  and  the  bishop  of 
Sienna  succeeded  him,  as  Eugenius  IV.  To  defeat  the  intrigues  of 
the  Italians,  who  were  the  most  numerous,  and  most  obsequious  to 
the  interests  of  the  pope,  the  ecclesiastics  were  divided,  agreeably 
to  their  several  orders,  and  without  regard  to  their  national  distinc- 
tions. This  arrangement  evinced  an  earnest  intention  to  strike  at 
the  root  of  the  evil ;  and  disappointed  the  schemes  of  the  papal 
party  to  frustrate  the  purposes  of  the  council.  Eugenius  endeavored 
to  dissolve  it ;  interposed  obstacles  to  its  proceedings;  dissembled 
and  used  secret  artifices;  and  finally,  when  all  his  measures  proved 
abortive,  yielded  to  an  influence  which  he  could  neither  control  nor 
elude  and  acknowledged  its  authority;  and  his  legates  were  admitted 
into  the  assembly,  having  solemnly  sworn  to  acquiesce  in  the  mea- 
sures which  might  be  adopted,  and  to  sustain  those  of  the  preced- 
ing council  claiming  its  supremacy  over  the  popes.  These  difficul- 
ties were  not  removed  until  the  close  of  the  year  1433,  when  the 
council  proceeded  in  its  measures. 

This  inauspicious  commencement  gave  an  early  intimation  of  the 
conflict  which  would  unavoidably  arise  between  the  parties.  As  a 
preliminary  act,  it  reaffirmed  "  the  subordination  of  the  pontiffs  to 
the  authority  and  jurisdiction  of  general  councils,"  and  abolished 
the  annates  and  other  papal  impositions.  Eugenius,  exasperated  by 
these  proceedings,  threatened  to  dissolve  the  council,  and  to  con- 
voke another  in  Italy ;  in  consequence  of  which  he  was  formally 
summoned  to  appear  in  person  at  Basle,  to  give  an  account  of  his 
conduct.  He  replied,  by  declaring  the  council  dissolved  ;  and  con- 
voked another  at  Terrara.  The  council  of  Basle,  rejoined  by  pro- 
nouncing him  contumaceous.  Such  were  the  relations  of  the  par- 
ties at  the  close  of  the  year  1437.  In  the  following  year,  he  thun- 
dered out  against  the  fathers  at  Basle,  a  sentence  of  excommunica- 
tion; who,  in  their  turn,  declared  him  deposed  from  the  pontifical 


1 5th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  273 

chair,  and  elevated,  as  his  successor,  Amadccus,  duke  of  Savoy, 
This  measure  brouglit  down  upon  thein  the  severest  denunciations 
and  anathemas  of  the  Vatican.  They  were  solemnly  consigned  to 
"  hell  and  damnation;"  and  all  their  acts  were  declared  null  and 
void.  Thus  was  there  another  schism  of  the  Church,  marked  with 
stronger  features  of  division  than  any  which  had  preceded  it.  Two 
pontilfs  claimed  the  chair  of  St.  Peler,  and  each  sustained  by  a 
council  assuming  to  be  ecumenical.  Amailaius  is  known  in  the  po- 
pish calendar  as  Felix  V.  The  counf^il  of  Ferraia,  adjourned  to 
Florence  in  1139,  and  was  dissolved  in  the  year  1442;  that  of 
Basle,  notwithstanding  their  excommunication  by  the  pope,  con- 
tinued tlieir  sessions  until  1443,  when  its  members  separated,  to 
meet  again  at  Basle,  Lyons,  or  Lausanne.  In  this  controversy, 
France  and  the  German  empire  preserved  a  strict  neutrality;  Eng- 
land sustained  the  pretensions  of  Eugenius;  and  Arragon,  with 
some  smaller  Slates,  adhered  to  Felix.  Concurrent  circumstances 
were,  however,  adverse  to  the  latter.  The  parlizans  of  Eugenius 
obtained  the  ascendency;  and  in  1449,  Felix  resigned  his  seat,  and 
returned  to  his  former  retirement  near  the  lake  of  Geneva. 

The  great  objects  for  which  these  councils  had  bee/i  convened 
were  in  the  end  entirely  defeated.  A  diet  at  Men^z,  had  given 
their  sanction  to  the  measures  adopted  at  Basle,  which  restricted 
the  powers  and  diminished  the  exorbitant  exactv>ns  of  the  pontiffs; 
but  through  the  skdful  diplomacy  and  dishone-'t  artifices  of  JEiwas 
Sylvius,  (afterward  pope  Pms  II.,)  the  seo'etary  of  Nicholas  V., 
the  papal  chair  recovered  all  the  rights  .vrested  from  it  by  that 
council.  By  a  concordat  at  Aschatfenb>i-g,  in  1448,  with  the  em- 
peror Frederick  III.,  the  Annates  wer^  restored;  and  the  right  of 
collating  to  benefices,  with  nominal  orunimportant  restrictions,  was 
again  vested  in  the  Roman  see.  Tie  system  of  aggression  and  of 
spiritual  monopolies  commenced  a^''in;  and  the  catalogue  of  griev- 
ances, drawn  up  by  the  diet  at  iVureniberg,  in  the  next  century, 
shows  to  what  extent  this  sysf^^m  had  been  carried  in  so  short  a 
time.  The  alleviations  of  the  oppressions  complained  of  were 
slight  and  temporary ;  and  ihe  burdens  imposed  by  the  recent  en- 
croachments became  fuUy  as  onerous  as  the  ancient  impositions. 
Such  were  the  results  of  ^hose  controversies,  which  apparently 
were  productive  of  evil  rather  than  of  good.  But  the  remote  con- 
sequences were  hig-!ily  beneficial  to  the  cause  of  tlie  reformation. 
It  was  evident,  that  no  concessions  would  be  made,  in  a  spirit  of 
compromise,  by  the  court  of  Rome.  The  vices  of  the  clergy  be- 
came more  /Fagranl ;  and  it  may  be  said  of  the  Church,  that  '■•  from 
Ihe  sole  of  the  foot  even  unto  the  head  there  was  no  soundness  in 
it;  but  wounds,  and  bruises,  and  putrifying  sores,"  and  truly  might 
we  repeat  the  words  of  the  prophet,  "  Except  the  Lord  of  hosts 
had  left  unto  us  a  very  small  remnant,  we  should  have  been  as  So- 
dom, and  we  should  have  been  like  unto  Gomorrah."  The  last 
18 


274  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  ceiitiiry. 

hope  was  in  that  spirit  which  was  making  its  silent  progress;  and 
acquiring  increased  vigor,  as  the  oppressions  of  ihe  hierarchy  be- 
cairie  more  aggravating.  It  was  neither  from,  the  Church  itsell,  nor 
from  the  authorities  under  it,  nor  yet  from  the  temporal  powers, 
that  the  evils  were  to  be  remedied.  God  had  chosen  his  instru- 
ments for  the  work;  and  by  these  it  was  accomplished  in  his  own 
appointed  time. 

The  recent  schism,  which  had  divided  a  church  claiming  an  ex- 
clusive character  of  infallibility,  terminated  by  the  voluntary  resig- 
nation of  Felix.     In  the  year  1458,  iEneas  Sylvius  Piccolomini, 
ascended  the  pontifical  throne  as  Pius  II.     He  Ojjposed,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  council  of  Basle,  the  pretensions  of  Pi^iigenius;  and  sus- 
tained the  council,  by  his  eloquence  and  learning,  in  all  its  measures 
to  reduce  the  pope  to  a  subordination  to  its  authority;  but  when 
elevated  to  the  pontiiicate,  he  renounced  his  former  princip'les,  de- 
claiing,  that  "As  Jilneas  Sylvius,  he  had  been  a  dam.nable  heretic; 
hut  as  Pius  11. ,  he  was  an  orthodox  pontitf."^   By  his  subtlety  and 
intrigue,  he  obtained  from  Louis  XI.,  of  France,  a  repeal  of  the 
decree  which  had  been  drawn  up  at  Bourges  in  1438,  securing  the 
clergy  ot  France  from  the  usurpations  of  the  Roman  see.    By  this 
ecclesiastical  constitution,  know  n  as  the  Praginatic  Sanction,  "  the 
nomination  to  t\ie  bishoprics  in  France,  and  the  collation  of  certain 
benefices  of  the  Wilier  class,  were  vested  in  the  king,  the  Annates 
and  other  pecumaiy  exactions  of  the  pontiffs  were  abolished,  and 
the  authority  of  a  geufrgl  council  was  declared  superior  to  that  of 
the  pope.       The  article;  of  this  pragm.atic  rescript  were  indeed 
but  transcripts  from  the  iecrees  of  the  council  of  Basle,  which 
Pius  had  himself  vigorously  defended.     In  return  lor  this  conces- 
sion, Louis  was  remunerated  by  the  title  of  "  Most-Christian-Ma- 
jesty;"   by  which   his  successors  have   been   since   distinguished. 
Pius,  however,  did  not  succeed  )o  the  extent  of  his  wishes,  as  the 
repeal  was  not  formally  registert'6;  and  the  pragmatic  sanction,  or 
other  provisions  against  the  papal  exactions,  still  secured  the  ri-hts 
of  the  Gallican  church,  until  the  conoordat  of  Francis  I.  and  Leo 
X.  in  the  next  century,  was  forced  upon  the  French  nation. 

The  successors  of  Pius  II.  were-,  Pa^l  \\,  yvho  reigned  from 
1464  to  1471;  Sextus  IV.  who  died  m  1484;  a^d  Innocent  YIIL 
who  was  succeeded  in  the  year  1492,  by  Roderic  Eorgia,  a  Span- 
iard by  birth,  the  notorious  Alexander  VI. 

The  character  of  Alexander,  comprised  within  itself  the  accu- 
mulated vices  of  his  predecessors.  His  reign  elosed  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  ushered  in  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  the 
beginning  of  a  new  eia  of  religious  light  and  liberty.  A\l  'he  wri- 
ters of  the  age  concur  in  giving  testimony  to  the  utter  depravity  of 
morals  which  pervaded  all  orders  of  the  clergy,  and  God  seems  to 
have  raised  up  one  who  filled  the  measure  of  their  iifujuuios. 
"The  life  and  actions  of  this  man,"  says  the  historian,  "  show,  that 


15lh  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  275 

there  was  a  Nero  among  the  popes  as  well  as  amoni?  the  emperors. 
The  crimes  and  enormities  imputed  to  him  evidently  [)rove  him  to 
have  been  not  only  destitute  oi' all  religious  and  viituous  principUts, 
hut  even  regardless  ofdt^cency,  and  hardened  against  the  very  leel- 
ing  of  shame.'"  "  After  living  in  illicit  intercourse  with  a  Roman 
lady,  he  continued  a  similar  connection  with  one  of  her  daughters, 
by  whom  he  had  five  cluldren.  As  cardinal  and  arch-bishop,  visit- 
ing the  churches  and  hospitals,  he  was  at  the  same  time  living  in 
public  prostitution  with  the  most  abandoned  women  in  Rome.  He 
obtained  the  pontifical  chair  by  bribery."  The  city  was  thrown 
into  consternation  by  tlie  secret  assassinations  and  blood-thirsty 
murders  which  marked  his  short  but  awful  reign.  "  Every  one 
feared  to  move  or  breatlie  lest  he  should  be  the  next  victim.  The 
spot  on  earth  where  all  iniquity  met  and  overfiowed  was  the  pon- 
tiff's seat."  Such  is  the  brief  sketch  of  the  character  of  this  mon- 
ster in  human  shape,  this  vicar  of  Christ,  and  legitimate  apostolic 
successor  of  St.  Peter.  "  Babylon  had  become,  as  the  aposile  has 
forcibly  expressed  it,  the  habitation  of  devils  and  the  hold  of  every 
foul  spirit.  Her  sins  had  reached  unto  heaven,  and  God  remem- 
bered her  iniquities.  The  time  was  fast  approaching  when  a  voice 
would  be  heard  from  heaven,  saying  "  Come  out  of  her,  my  peo- 
ple, that  ye  be  not  partakers  of  her  sins,  and  that  ye  receive  not  of 
her  plagues." 

The  apostolic  succession  has  been  succinctly  traced  from  the 
earliest  period  of  ecclesiastical  history  to  the  sixteenth  century. 
The  government  of  the  Christian  Chui'ch  has  been  described  in  all 
its  changes,  and  under  all  its  diifeient  phases,  through  fourteen  hun- 
dred successive  ages  we  have  pursued  its  history.  Within  that 
period  what  revolutions  have  we  witnessed  !  Let  the  impartial 
reader  here  suspend  his  pi'ogress,  and  revert  to  the  fii'st  institution 
of  that  colossal  power  whose  growth  and  maturity  we  have  tiaced. 
How  changed  from  its  original  simplicity,  how  corrupted  anj  de- 
formed from  its  pi'isfine  purity  and  beauty  !  Where  shall  we  look 
in  the  papal  cliutch  for  a  single  feature  of  that  divine  portrait  drawn 
by  the  inspired  pen  of  the  apostles  of  Jesus  Christ.''  Where  shall 
we  look  for  those  who  rejoiced  that  they  were  counted  worthy  to 
suder  shame  for  his  name.''  Would  Gregory,  or  Innocent,  Boni- 
face, or  Alexander,  have  said  in  sincerity  of  feeling,  "  I  am  the  least 
of  tlie  apostles,  that  am  not  meet  to  be  called  an  apostle  .f*"  And 
yet  these  are  they  through  whom  have  been  ti'ansmitted  the  apos- 
tolic succession,  and  the  only  divine  right  to  preach  the  everlasting 
gospel  of  peace  and  salvation.  These  are  "  the  bishops  who  were 
ordained  by  other  bisliops;  down  to  the  apostles,  who  ordained 
them,  and  who  were  themselves  ordained  by  Christ.  These  have 
been  the  only  sacred  depositaries  of  tlie  truth;  and  who  only  can 
give  authority  to  preach  the  word  of  God  !  Such  is  the  foundation 
of  the  whole  structure  of  diocesan  episcopacy.    In  all  the  pages  of 


276  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST,  [15lh  ccntury. 

profane  history,  where  shall  we  find,  a  pretension  to  a  succession 
so  visionary  and  unfounded,  a  lineage  so  iailacious  in  its  origin,  and 
so  debased  and  corrupted  by  crimes  ol  the  most  flagrant  and  abomi- 
nable ciiaracter,  a  catalogue  of  such  abandoned  and  wicked  profli- 
gates and  tyrants?  From  this  corrupt  stream,  crimsoned  with  the 
blood  of  saints  and  holy  martyrs,  we  are  to  draw  the  u  ater  of  life 
as  from  a  pure  river  proceeding  out  of  tiie  throne  of  God  and  of 
the  Lamb ! 

The  declension  of  the  papal  power  throughout  this  century,  was 
visibly  marked  out  by  incidents  connected  with  the  internal  affairs 
of  the  Church.     Tiie  factions  which  agitated  its  bosom  demon- 
strably revealed  the  fact,  that  harmony  and  peace  dwelt  not  within 
it.     The  society  of  the  Fratricelli,  or  the  brethren  of  the  spiritual 
order,  had  become  more  rebellious  and  refractory.     Nolvvitlistand- 
ing  the  efforts  of  the  pontiffs,  in  the  preceding  centuries,  to  reduce 
them  to  submission,  by  banishment  and  death;  they  still  multiplied 
in  numbers  and  inveighed  against  the  corruptions  and  the  usurpa- 
tions of  the  Roman  hierarchy.    The  inquisitors  themselves  became 
victims  of  their  vengeance.     They  received,  although  openly  hos- 
tile to  the  court  of  Rome,  patronage  and  protection,  from  men  of 
influence,  and  even  from  the  king  of  Bohemia.    The  persecution  of 
these  miserable  fanatics  was  unceasing  and  severe.    In  Fiance,  they 
were  committed  to  the  flames  without  mercy.    They  were  pursued 
from  one  country  to  the  other;  but  they  adhered  with  the  iaiihful- 
ness  and  the  patience  of  martyrs  to  their  fundamental  doctrine,  that 
"  The  true  imitation  of  Christ  consisted  in  beggary  and  extreme  pov- 
erty."    They  were  not  permitted  to  cherish  this  humble  and  inno- 
cent sentiment.     Their  history  is  traced  to  the  commencement  of 
the  great  leligious  movements  in  the  next  century  ;  wlien,  it  is  sup- 
posed, tlie  remnant  of  this  sect  became  merged  in  the  followers  of 
Luther  and  the  other  prominent  reformers  of  the  age. 

Other  religious  sects  arose  who  are  worthy  of  notice  for  having 
maintained,  with  many  gross  enors,  some  of  the  doctrines  drawn 
from  the  fundamental  truths  of  the  gospel.  The  "  Men  of  under- 
standing,"' as  these  sectaries  vvi^re  called,  believed,  that  '^  Christ 
alone  had  merited  eternal  life  and  felicity  for  the  human  race;  and 
that,  therefore,  men  could  not  acquire  this  inestimable  privilege  by 
their  own  actions  alone."  They  denied  that  the  priests,  to  \\  horn 
the  people  confessed  their  sins,  had  the  power  of  absolving  them ; 
affirmiim;  that  it  was  Christ  alone  that  could  do  tliis.  Thev  did  not 
believe  that  voluntary  penance  and  mortification  \vere  necessary  to 
salvation.  These  opinions  were  declared  to  be  heretical ;  and  the 
"men  of  understanding"  were  compelled  to  submit  to  the  judgment 
of  the  Chuich  and  to  renounce  tliem. 

The  Flagellants, or  Whippers,  diflered  from  the  cliurch  of  Rome, 
as  to  the  eflicacy  of  the  sacraments,  the  flames  of  purgatory,  pray- 
ing tor  the  dead,  and  some  other  points  of  doctrines;  but  they  where 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  277 

not  less  absurd  and  superstitious  than  the  papists  j^enerally  in  other 
respects,  'lliey  phiced  great  i-cliaiice  on  the  efficacy  of  penance; 
and  iiitiicted  upon  their  naked  bodies  severe  flagellations;  but  were 
notuiilisiandiiig  the  objects  of  a  cruel  persecution.  They  were  ar- 
rested and  committed  to  the  flames. 

An  ineflectual  effort  was  made  to  unite  the  Greek  and  Latin 
cliurches.  The  strength  and  glory  of  the  Eastern  empire  had  de- 
parted ;  and  Maliomet  II.,  had  extended  his  conquests  to  the  gates 
of  Constantino[)le.  In  this  extremity  the  patriarch  ap[)ealed  to  the 
spiritual  sovereign  of  the  West  for  temporal  aid*  and  piomised 
obedience  as  the  condition.  'J'he  emperor  Jolin  Palaiologus,  the 
Grecian  patriarch  Josephus,  and  the  most  eminent  bishops,  appeared 
at  Ferrara,  whilst  the  pontifl"  Eugenius,  and  the  council  of  Basle, 
were  carrying  on  an  angry  controversy  on  the  question  of  suprem- 
acy. The  dissensions  which  divided  tiie  Latin  church,  and  the  de- 
position of  Engenius,  presented  obstacles  which  although  partially 
removed,  prevented  for  the  time  a  reconciliation  between  the  Eas- 
tern and  Western  churches.  The  inveterate  hatred,  however, 
which  they  cherished  towards  each  other  formed  the  strongest  bar- 
rier to  their  union;  and  the  emperor  renounced  a  measure  always 
unpopular  with  the  whole  body  of  tlie  Greek  clergy.  In  the  year 
l45.j,  Mahomet  advanced  with  300,000  men  to  the  capital  of  the 
empire;  Conslantuie,  pressed  by  the  dangers  which  threatened  the 
safety  of  his  throne,  ui'ged  upon  the  papal  court  the  renewal  of  ne- 
gotiations, solicited  assistance,  and  made  a  promise  of  spiritual  obe- 
dience. The  legate  of  Rome,  the  cardmal  Isidore  of  Russia,  ap- 
peared at  Constantinople.  He  was  saluted  as  a  friend  and  father. 
The  Greeks  and  Latins  united  in  public  worship,  and  partook  to- 
gether of  the  sacrament  of  the  eucharist.  But  the  Latin  father 
mingled  water  with  the  holy  wine,  and  consecrated  a  wafer  of  un- 
leavened bread.  The  Greeks  were  ofl'ended  by  this  violation  of 
their  sacred  rites,  and  turned  with  aversion  from  the  sacrilege. 
"  Have  patience,  they  whispered,  have  [)atience  till  God  shall  have 
delivered  the  city  from  the  great  dragon  who  seeks  to  devour  us. 
You  shall  then  perceive  whether  we  are  truly  reconciled  with  the 
'■JlzymilesV^  The  murmur  of  disapprobation  was  soon  raised  to 
open  and  loud  exclamations  against  "the  slaves  of  the  pope."  In 
the  fervor  of  their  zeal  they  cried  out,  "Far  from  us  be  the  wor- 
ship of  the  .flzy miles.''''  The  church  of  St.  Sophia  was  deserted  by 
the  pious  Greeks,  as  a  place  contaminated  by  the  superstitious  rites 
of  the  Latins,  as  a  temple,  suital)le  only  for  the  services  of  a  Jew- 
ish synagOL^ne,  or  for  the  worship  of  heathen  idolaters.  "  The 
Latins,"  they  said,  "  were  the  most  odious  of  heretics  and  infidels." 

'Azymites,  fioni  tlio  Gr:  a  and  zame,  without  leaven.  Ffenco  the  Jewish  festi- 
val of  Azyina.  The  term  was  apjiiied  to  Christians  wlio  administered  tlie  eucliarist 
witli  unleavened  i>read.  It  is  supposed  l(i  have  liecn  enjoined  by  the  Romish  church 
about  the  commencement  of  the  eleventh  century. 


278  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  century. 

The  ^rcat  duke,  the  first  minister  of  the  empire,  exclaimed,  that 
"He Would  rather  behold  in  the  city  the  turban  of  Mahomet,  than 
the  pope's  tiara,  or  a  cardinal's  hat." 

Such  was  the  result  of  this  negotiation  for  harmony  and  union. 
Constantinople  was  six  months  after  taken  hy  the  forces  of  Ma- 
homet, and  became  the  seat  of  the  Turkish  empire.  "In  the 
church  of  St.  Sophia,  the  Imam  preached;  and  the  Mussulman 
prince  offered  up  prayer  and  thanksgiving  on  tlie  great  altar,  wliere 
the  Christian  mysteries  had  so  lately  been  celebrated  hefore  the  last 
of  the  Cffisars.*  The  Greeks  imputed  their  downfall  to  the  indif- 
ference or  the  enmity  of  the  Latins;  and  neither  time,  nor  other 
circumstances,  have  softened  the  asperity  of  feeling  between  them. 
The  Eastern  and  Western  churches  are  still  widely  separated  by 
an  irreconcilable  hatred. 

The  innovations  in  'he  Romish  church,  were  the  witliholding  the 
wine  from  the  laity  and  the  institution  of  the  festival  in  commemo- 
ration of  the  transfiguration  of  Christ.  Extraordinary  indulgences 
were  granted  to  those  who  would  celebrate  annually  the  festival  of 
"  the  immaculate  conception." 


CHAPTER    XI. 

THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  REFORMATION. 

A  CELEBRATED  French  divine  of  the  17th  century,  lias  remark- 
ed of  the  state  of  the  Romish  church  at  the  period  of  our  history, 
that  "  Religion  itself,  was  made  to  consist  of  the  performance  of 
numerous  ceremonies  of  Pagan,  Jewish,  and  monkish  extraction, 
all  which  might  be  performed  witjiout  either  faith  in  God,  or  love 
to  mankind.  The  Church  ritual  was  an  addiess,  not  to  the  reason, 
but  to  the  senses  of  men;  music  stole  the  ear  and  soothed  the  pas- 
sions; statues,  paintings,  vestments,  and  various  ornaments  heguiled 
the  eye;  while  the  pause  which  was  produced  by  that  sudden  at- 
tack which  a  multitude  of  ohjects  made  on  the  senses,  on  entering 
a  spacious  decorated  edifice,  was  enthusiastically  taken  for  devo- 
tion. Blind  obedience  was  first  allowed  by  courtesy,  and  then 
established  by  law.  Public  worship  was  performed  in  an  unknown 
tongue,  and  the  sacrament  was  adored  as  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ.  Vice,  uncontrolled  by  reason  or  Scripture,  retained  a  pa- 
gan vigor,  and  committed  the  most  horrid  ciimes;  and  superstition 
atoned  for  them,  by  buildmg  and  endowing  religious  houses,  and 
by  bestowing  donations  on  the  Church.     Human  merit  was  intro- 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  279 

duced,  saints  were  invoked,  and  the  perfections  of  God  were  dis- 
tributed by  canonization  ainon^  the  creatures  of  the  pope."^ 

"The  sulferings  and  merits  oi' Christ,"  says  a  writer  of  this  age, 
"  were  looked  upon  as  an  empty  tale,  or  as  llie  fictions  of  Homer. 
Tiiere  was  no  long-er  any  thoug-ht  of  that  faith  by  whicii  we  are 
made  partakers  of  the  bavior's  righteousness,  and  of  the  inlieri- 
tance  of  eternal  life.  Christ  was  reg-arded  as  a  stern  judge,  pre- 
pared to  condemn  all  who  should  not  have  recourse  to  the  interces- 
sion of  saints,  or  to  the  pope's  indulgences.  Other  intercessors 
were  substituted  in  his  stead;  first,  the  Virgin  Mary,  like  the  hea- 
then Diana;  and  then  the  saints,  whose  numbers  were  continually 
augmented  by  the  popes.  All  maintained  that  the  pope,  being  in 
the  place  of  God,  could  not  err,"  "  The  New  Testament,"  said 
a  monk,  "  is  a  book  full  of  serpents  and  thorns." 

Pious  and  intelligent  men  every  where  beheld  with  sorrow  the 
degradation  into  which  the  Church  had  fallen;  and  not  a  kw  seem- 
ed, at  a  much  earlier  period  than  the  fifteenth  century,  to  foresee 
the  certain  accomplishment  of  the  great  work  of  reformation  which 
had  been  slowly  progressing  for  ages  before.  From  century  to 
centuiy  the  opposition  to  the  Romisli  church  had  continually  ex- 
tended. Persecutions  could  not  suppress  it;  the  stake  and  the  flames 
had  failed  to  conquer  it.  The  stone  which  had  been  cut  out  of  the 
mountain  widiout  hands,  was  destined  to  become  itself  a  great 
mountain,  and  to  smite  the  image.  The  Reformation  was  not  the 
work  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It  had  commenced  centuries  before. 
Luther  assisted  in  carrying  on,  as  an  humble  instrument,  what  No- 
vatlan  in  the  third  century,  Claudms  of  Turin  in  the  ninth,  VVick- 
liffe  in  the  fourteenth,  and  the  holy  army  oi'  martyrs  througliout  the 
intervening  ages,  had  faithfully  labored  to  accomplish.  The  wit- 
nesses of  the  truth  have  constantly  preserved  the  purity  of  the 
Church  ;  the  gospel  sound  of  salvation  was  never  entirely  silenced  ; 
and  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church  had  reserved  to  himself  faithful 
believers  who  never  bowed  the  knee  to  the  image  of  Baal.  A  pop- 
ular error  has  attril)uted  to  one  man  the  work  of  reformation.  The 
doctrines  he  maintained,  have  been  erroneously  termed  the  doc- 
trines of  Germany  ;  and  in  violation  oi"  the  incontestable  evidences 
which  history  presents,  the  commencement  of  the  Reformation  has 
been  dated  from  the  sixteenth  century.  "  Scarcely,"  says  D'Au- 
bigne,  "  had  Rome  usurped  power  before  a  vigorous  opposition 
was  formed  against  her;  and  this  endured  tliroughout  the  middle 
ages."  This  we  have  traced  by  successive  steps  to  the  opening  of 
the  fifteenth  century;  and  from  this  period  the  progress  of  the 
Reformation  will  l)e  followed  up  to  its  close. 

The  counts  of  Savoy,  and  the  princt's  of  Piedmont,  were  toler- 
ant in  their  religious  views,  and  resisted  with  firmness  the  attempts 

'Sec  Jones'  History  of  the  Christian  Church. 


280  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  ceiitury, 

of  the  emissaries  of  Rome  to  molest  their  suhjects.  While  the 
persecutions  by  tlie  Romish  church  desolated  oilier  countries,  the 
inhabitants  of  the  valleys  enjoyed  repose.  Tlie  missionaries  of  ihe 
inquisition  beheld  with  dissatisfaction  their  exemption  from  the  suf- 
ferings which  had  been  inflicted  on  the  heretics  of  France;  and 
watched  with  an  eager  eye,  the  oj)portunity  of  springing  upon  them 
with  the  ferocity  of  uncaged  tigers.  They  were  ever  crouched 
for  their  piey,  but  the  inter[)Osing  arm  of  the  government  protected 
these  harmless  victims  from  their  merciless  fangs.  lu  the  year 
1400,  they  were  loosed  from  the  leaslies,  and  like  thirsty  blood- 
hounds, bounded  forward  in  the  pursuit  of  their  prey.  A  commis- 
sion was  directed  to  Francis  Boralli,  a  monk  inquisitor,  to  search 
for  and  to  punish  tlie  Waldenses  in  Geneva,  Savoy,  and  the  south- 
ern provinces  of  France.  The  cruelties  inflicted  upon  the  misera- 
ble inhabitants  by  this  monster  in  human  shape,  cannot  be  faithfully 
described  by  the  pen;  and  exhibited  a  ferocity  of  chaiacler  which 
for  the  honor  of  humanity,  should  be  buried  in  oblivion.  This  was 
however,  but  the  beginning  of  sorrows. 

About  this  time  the  Vaudois  of  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  were 
unexpectedly  attacked  by  an  army  of  papists.  This  occurred  in 
■pragela,  in  the  month  of  Decembei-,  and  amid  the  seveiities  of  a 
winter  season.  Their  enemies,  in  a  spirit  of  premeditated  slaugh- 
ter, had  taken  the  precaution  to  occupy  the  caves  and  other  places 
of  safety  to  which  tlie  Vaudois  might  have  retreated,  and  secured 
themselves  either  by  eluding  their  pursuit,  or  defending  themselves 
by  advantageous  positions  on  the  mountains.  The  only  alternative 
left  to  those  who  escaped  the  sword  of  their  destroyers,  was  a  pre- 
cipitate flight  to  the  highest  point  of  the  Alps.  Thither  they  di- 
rected their  steps,  through  ravines,  and  over  mountains  deeply  cov- 
ered with  snow;  the  afllicted  mothers  bearing  their  infants  in  iheir 
arms,  and  leading  those  who  were  of  too  tender  an  age  to  surmount 
the  difficulties  without  assistance.  Great  numbers  were  overtaken 
in  their  flight,  and  cruelly  butchered.  Those  who  escaped  their 
pursuers,  overtaken  by  the  darkness  of  the  night,  and  exposed  to 
the  inclemencies  of  the  weather,  perished  from  the  cold.  Eighty 
infants  were  found  the  next  mornimg  frozen  to  death,  and  many  of 
the  mothers  either  dead,  or  dying,  and  lyinu:  by  them  on  the  snow. 
Whilst  these  forlorn  fugitives  were  pcnshin<>-  on  the  mountains, 
their  houses  were  plundered,  and  their  habitations  made  desolate. 
The  cruelty  of  their  enemies  was  satiated  by  hanging  upon  a  tree 
a  helpless  woman  whose  infirmities  disabled  her  from  attempting 
an  esca[)e. 

In  the  year  1415,  John  Huss  suffered  martyrdom  at  the  stake. 
There  appears  to  be  an  uncertainty  as  to  tlie  particular  doctrines 
advanced  by  this  reformer.  Some  writers  maintain,  that  he  dijfer- 
ed  from  the  popish  church  on  points  not  considered  by  Prolesiants 
of  the  piesent  day  as  important,  or  involving  any  peculiar  religious 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  281 

principles;  and  intimate  that  his  condemnation  is  attributnble  more 
to  the  influence  of  the  Nominalists,  his  personal  enemies,  in  the 
council  of  Constance,  than  to  his  heretical  opinions.'  The  author- 
ity for  this,  however,  is  drawn  from  two  sermons  delivered  before 
the  council  by  liuss.  Although  he  afterward  met  his  fate  with  un- 
common fortitude,  we  might  very  well  suppose,  that  belbre  his  trial 
and  condemnation,  his  language  would  be  of  a  conciliating  lone, 
witliout  impeaching  his  sincerity  or  firmness.  It  is  certain,  that  he 
had  deeply  imbibed  the  sentiments  of  Wickliffe,  had  pul)licly  de- 
fended his  writings  and  opinions,  and  had  become  peculiarly  ob- 
noxious to  the  clergy,  by  opposing  the  papal  hierarchy,  and  ex- 
posing the  corruption  of  the  Church.  "•  The  bishops,"  says  Mos- 
heim,  "  togelher  with  the  sacerdotal  and  monastic  orders,  were 
very  sensible  tliat  tlieir  honors  and  advantages,  their  credit  and  au- 
thority, were  in  the  greatest  danger  of  being  reduced  to  notlnng,  if 
this  reformer  should  return  again  to  his  country,  and  continue  to 
write  and  declaim  against  the  clergy  with  the  same  freedom  that 
he  had  formerly  done.  Hence  they  left  no  means  unemployed  to 
accomplish  his  ruin;  they  labored  night  and  day,  they  formed  plots, 
they  bribed  men  in  power,  they  used,  in  short,  every  method  that 
could  have  any  tendency  to  rid  them  of  such  a  formidable  adver- 
sary." Huss  became  the  object  of  popish  vindictivencss  by  de- 
claiming against  the  sale  of  indulgences;  when  John  XXIll.  pub- 
lished his  bull  against  the  king  of  Naples,  and  ordered  a  crusade 
against  him.  His  principles  were  drawn  from  the  writings  of 
Wickiitfe,  which  had  been  translated  into  the  Sclavonian  tongue, 
and  widely  dispersed  through  the  kingdom  of  Bohemia.  The 
pope,  Alexander  V.,  alarmed  by  the  jiropagation  of  tlu'se  princi- 
ples, ordered  the  writings  of  VVicklillc  to  be  publicly  burnt,  and 
those  who  defended  them  to  be  imprisoned.  His  successor,  John, 
excommunicated  Huss  for  this  offense,  and  all  his  followers. 

In  the  year  1414,  the  council  of  Constance  convened.  Huss  de- 
termined to  obey  with  promptness,  a  citation  to  appear  before  it. 
From  the  emperor  Sigisinund,  he  received  a  passport  which  pur- 
ported lo  remove  all  impediments  to  his  going  to,  remaining  at,  and 
returning  from,tlie  council.-  As  he  pursued  his  journey  towards  Con- 
stance, he  challenged  his  adversaries  to  meet  him  there.  Having 
appeared  liefore  the  council,  he  was  required  to  renounce  his  er- 
rors. This  he  consented  to  do,  when  convinced  that  his  opinions 
were  not  in  accordance  with  the  Word  of  God.  The  pope  had 
given  him  an  assurance  of  librrty  and  [irotection  during  his  trial; 
but  he  was  soon  after  seized  in  the  gallery  of  the  council  chmbner, 
and  imprisoned  in  a  lonely  monastery  on  the  banks  of  the  Rhine. 
Many  sessions  elapsed  before  the  articles  declaring  the  naluie  of 

'Moslieim's  Ecclesiaslical  History. 

*Ii  Wiis  expressed  in  tlie  followinff  lanffiinac  :  "  Omni  proraufi  impedim-  oremotOf 
traiiiire,  slare,  morari,  el  redirc  libere  pcrmUlulis  sibique  el  sitis,''  &{c. 


282  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHiiisT.  [15th  centurj. 

his  offenses  were  exhibited  against  him.  In  tlie  tifleenth  session  of 
the  council  he  was  condemned  for  maintaining  doctrines  which  are 
now  received  by  all  Protestant  churches  as  strictly  in  accordance 
with  the  orthodox  faith.  It  was  ordered,  "  That  he  be  degiaded 
from  the  priesthood,  his  books  publicly  burnt,  and  himself  deliver- 
ed to  the  secular  power,"  which,  in  tiie  vernacular  of  popery, 
meant,  to  be  committed  to  the  flames.  "  That  sentence,"  says  a 
writer,  "  he  heard  without  emotion.  He  immediately  prayed  for 
the  pardon  of  his  enemies.  Tiie  bisliops  appointed  by  the  council 
stripped  him  of  his  priestly  garments,  and  put  a  mitre  of  paper  on 
his  head,  on  which  devils  vva^.re  painted,  with  this  inscription,  '  A 
ring-leader  of  heretics.'  The  bisliops  delivered  him  to  the  em- 
peror, and  he  delivered  him  to  the  duke  of  Bavaria."  It  was  not 
until  the  nineteenth  session  that  the  safe-conduct  given  to  him  by 
Sigismund  was  decreed  to  be  invalid.  In  the  execution  of  the 
sentence,  faggots  were  collected  around  him,  and  fire  being  ap- 
plied to  them,  he  was  soon  consumed  by  the  flames.  "  During  his 
sufferings  he  sang  a  hymn,  with  so  loud  and  cheeriul  a  voice,  that 
he  wasdislinctly  heard  through  all  the  noise  of  the  combustibles, 
and  of  the  multitude.  At  last  he  uttered,  "Jesus  Christ,  thou  son 
of  the  living  God,  have  mercy  upon  me!"  His  ashes  were  care- 
fully collected,  and  cast  into  the  Rhine.  Luther,  more  than  a  hun- 
dred years  after,  gave  testimony  to  the  excellency  of  his  writings, 
by  declaring,  that  he  was  the  most  rational  expounder  of  the  Scrip- 
ture he  ever  met  with.  "He  seemed,"  says  a  recent  popular  wri- 
ter, "to  enter  more  deeply  than  all  who  had  gone  before  him  into 
the  essence  of  Christian  truth."  "  The  wicked  have  begun,"  said 
Huss,  "  by  laying  treacherous  snares  for  the  goosc.^  Instead  of  a 
goose,  the  truth  will  send  forth  eagles  and  keen-eyed  falcons." 
Huss  was  the  victim  of  popish  bigotry  and  cruelty,  be  was  an  ac- 
ceptable sacrifice  offered  up  at  the  shrine  of  Baal,  but  the  blood  of 
the  martyr  was  the  seed  of  the  Church. 

Huss  went  to  Constance  under  a  safe-conduct  from  the  emperor 
of  Germany,  and  in  violation  of  that  pledge  he  was  arrested,  im- 
prisoned, and  put  to  death,  under  a  sentence  of  condemnation  by  a 
council  of  the  Papal  church.  This  was  a  practical  illustration  of 
the  popish  principle,  which  was  the  key-stone  of  the  stupendous 
fabric  of  papal  supremacy,  that  "The  temporal  powers  are  subor- 
dinate to  the  ecclesiastical." 2  But  this  violation  of  a  pledged  faith 
has  been  justified  by  a  fundamental  doctrine  of  the  Romish  church, 
that  "No  oath  against  the  benefit  of  the  Church  is  binding;  all 
such  oaths  are  perjuries."  This  is  exjiressed  in  the  body  of  the 
canon  laws,  and  according  to  the  inquisitorial  directory  of  Gregory 

'Tiie  word  "  Huss''  in  the  Bohemian  language,  signifies  "  Goose.'' 

'Coristitutioncs  prinr,i|)nm  onclosinsliris  cnnslitiitionilius  jio?i  pranmlnrnt,  seil  obse- 
qnunlnr.  (I)ecrnt.)  "  QiioBr'iniC]iin  n  priiifipilms  in  ordiiiilms  vol  in  ew;iesiustici8  re- 
bus decretu  iiivuiiiuntur,  nulUus  auclorilalis  esse  nioiisUaiilur.''  (Ideui.) 


loth  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  283 

IX.,  "  They  who  were  held  hound  to  heretics  are  released  from 
every  obligation."  In  the  Duect.  Inquis.  of  Honorius  III.,  it  is  de- 
clared, that  "  A  heretic  should  not  be  paid  what  is  due  to  him,  on 
a  promise  even  with  an  oath;"  "all  persons  are  forbidden  to  show 
any  kinchiess  to  heretics*,"  "they  must  be  sought  after,  and  cor- 
rected, or  exterminated;"  and,  tiiat  "  he  is  a  heretic  who  ()[)poses 
the  Roman  chur'ch,  and  takes  away  its  dignity;  or  who  thinks  dif- 
ferenlly  fsom  it  coircerning  any  article  of  faith."  The  Direct.  In- 
quis. of  Innocent  IV.,  gives  authority  to  all  irrquisitors  "to  compel 
secular  magisti-ates  to  swear  that  they  will  keep  the  laws  enacted 
against  heretics."  But  it  is  unnecessar-y  to  multiply  the  authoi'ities 
which  establish  the  principle,  that  a  heretic,  or  one  who  differs 
from  the  Romish  chur-ch  concerrring  any  article  of  faith,  is,  ipso 
facto,  an  outlaw  in  the  view  of  that  church ;  and  is  divested  of  all 
right,  human  and  divine,  without  eitlier  civil  or  ecclesiastical  j)riv- 
ileges,  and  may  be  sought  after,  and  corrected,  or  extei-minated.^ 
But  the  council  of  Constance  avowed  the  principle,  updn  which  it 
violated  the  pledge  of  safety  Huss  had  received,  and  condemned 
him  to  the  stake,  that  "  he  was  unworthy,  through  his  obstinate 
adherence  to  heresy,  of  any  {)iivil("ge;  and  that  neither  faith  nor 
pr'omise  ought  to  be  kept  with  him,  by  natural,  divine,  or  human 
law,  to  (he  prejudice  of  the  Catholic  (Papal)  church."  Tlie  doc- 
trine is  thus  fully  laid  down  by  the  council,  and  the  ground  of  its 
proceeding  placed  beyond  a  doubt,  "  The  holy  Synod  of  Constance 
declar'es  concerning  every  safe-conduct  granted  by  the  emperor, 
kings,  and  other  temporal  princes,  to  heretics,  or  pei'soirs  accused 
of  heresy,  in  hopes  of  reclaiming  them,  that  it  ought  not  to  he  of 
any  prejudice  to  the  Catholic;  (Papal)  church,  or  ecclesiastical  ju- 
risdiction, nor  to  hinder  but  that  such  persons  may  and  ought  to  be 
examined,  judged,  and  punished,  accor'ding  as  justice  shall  r'equire, 
if  those  hei'ciics  shall  refuse  to  revoke  their  eri'ors,  although  they 
shall  have  come  to  the  place  of  judgment  relying  orr  tlieir  safe- 
conduct,  and  without  which  they  would  not  have  come  thither;  and 
the  person  who  shall  have  promised  them  security,  shall  not,  in 
this  case,  be  olrliged  to  keep  his  promise,  by  whatever  tie  he  may 
have  been  engaged,  when  he  has  done  all  that  is  in  his  power  to 
do." 

But  to  descend  to  a  later  date — to  the  council  of  Trent,  which 
was  the  last  ecumenical  council  of  the  Church.  Tliis  convened  in 
1545,  at  a  period  when  the  principles  of  the  Reformation  were 

'One  nf  the  oraclos  of  tlio  popish  chiimh.  ttie  Irarnod  cardinnl  Rfllnrmine,  says, 
that  "  Heretics  are  to  lie  dnslroyeri,  root  and  Ijrancli,  if  il  ran  possibly  bo  done;  but 
if  it  appear  tiiat  the  Catiiohcs  i  Papist;-)  are  so  few,  ihil  rbey  cannot  consislentiy 
with  tlieir  own  salcty,  atleinpt  such  a  tliincr,  then  it  is  best  in  stich  a  case,  to  be  quiet, 
lest,  upon  opposition  made  by  the  lier<.'ti<-s,  Iho  Catholics  (Piipists)  should  be  worst- 
ed." To  this  wise  policy  wo  are  to  altril)nte  the  app;ircnt  spirit  of  toleration  which 
popery  now  e.xhibits  It  is  the  ti<rcr  still,  but  muzzled  and  cajred  ;  and  let  Protestants 
iew.ire  that  they  remove  not  the  shackles  which  restrain  its  ferocity. 


284  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  century. 

deeply  rooted,  and  the  Protestant  stren<rth  was  ahle  to  resist  suc- 
cesslully  the  [jersecutitig  spirit  of  popery.  Tliis  council  invited  al 
who  had  separated  themsflves  from  the  Romish  chuich  to  attend 
its  meelings,  and  stale  tlieir  reasons  for  having  withdrawn  from  it. 
The  fate  of  John  Huss  was  not,  ho.vever,  Ibrgotten,  and  the  Pro- 
testants were  fearful  of  descending-  into  a  cavern  from  which  they 
could  discover  no  returning  footsteps  of  heretics.  With  a  view^  of 
quieting  their  apprehensions,  the  council  decreed,  that  "  All  fraud 
and  guile  apart,  the  Synod  faithfully  and  truly  promises,  that  she 
will  neither  openly  nor  secretly  search  for  any  pretence,  Tior  use, 
nor  suffer  any  person  to  make  use  of  any  authority,  power,  law, 
statute,  privilege  of  laws,  or  canons,  or  of  councils,  particulaily  that 
of  Constance  or  Si^^na,  in  whatever  form  of  woids  expressed,  to 
the  prejudice  of  this  public  faith,  full  security,  public  and  f\ee  au- 
dience, which  is  granted  by  the  Synod,  from  all  which  it  derogates 
in  this  inslance.''''  Here  was  no  disavowal  of  the  principle  which 
had  brought  Huss  to  the  stake;  but  a  direct  admission  of  it,  by 
solemnly  declaring  that  it  should  not  be  a[)plied  in  this  instance. 
The  council  of  Trent  neither  affirmed  that  the  Cliurch  never  main- 
tained the  doctrine,  that  "faith  should  not  be  kept  with  heretics," 
nor  did  it  expunge  it  from  its  creed;  but  it  pledged  its  faith,  that 
in  this  instance,  "full  security,  public  and  free  audience  would  be 
granted,"  &c. 

In  the  year  1416,  Jerome  of  Prague  was  arrested  at  Hirschaw, 
and  conducted  to  Constance;  where  he  also  suffered  martyrdom. 
The  crime  alledged  against  him  was,  his  adherence  to  the  errors 
of  Wickliffe. 

The  fire  of  persecution  was  kindled  in  this  century,  in  the  king- 
dom of  Scotland.  In  1422,  James  Retby  was  burnt  for  denying 
that  the  pope  was  the  vicar  of  Christ.  Knox's  history  commences 
vvilh  this  year,  and  his  account  of  the  persecutions  was  drawn  from 
the  records  of  Glasgow.  "  It  was  by  the  merciful  Providence  of 
God,"  he  says,  "  that  such  things  as  arc  after-mentioned,  were  kept 
eve7)  by  the  enemies  of  truth,  in  their  registers,  to  show  that  God 
preserved,  in  this  realm,  some  sparks  of  his  light,  even  in  the  time 
of  the  greatest  darkness."  There  are  records  of  martyrdoms  at 
various  periods  throughout  this  century.  In  1431,  Paul  Craw,  a 
Bohemian,  was  appreliendcd  in  the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  and 
sufllVrcd  death.  A  ball  of  brass  was  j)ut  into  his  mouth,  before  his 
execution,  that  he  might  not  address  the  people.'  IJut  the  move- 
ments in  Bohemia  consequent  upon  the  cruelties  inflicted  on  Huss 
and  Jerome,  must  now  be  adverted  to  in  the  order  of  occurrences. 

Bohemia  is  known  in  ancient  history  as  the  Hercynian  Forest. 
Its  earliest  inhabitants  of  whom  we  have  any  authentic  account  were 
called  the  Boii.     These  were  conquered,  or  expelled,  in  the  time 

'McGavin's  Protestant. 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  285 

of  Augustus  Caisar,  by  the  Marcomanni;  who  were,  in  the  sixth 
or  seventh  century,  overcome  by  the  Selavi.  By  these  last  inva- 
ders a  ij^overument  was  establislied  of  a  republican  form;  which 
was  afterwards  changed  into  a  limited  monarchy  ;  and  the  title  of 
duke  was  attached  to  their  chief.  In  the  year  1468,  George  Po- 
dicbrad  was  excommunicated  by  pope  Paul  II ,  for  protecting  the 
Hussites;  and  Matthias  Corvin,  king  of  Hungary,  was  made  king 
of  Boliemia  by  the  influence  of  the  pope.  To  oppose  to  him  a 
powerful  rival,  George  caused  Wladislaus,  son  of  Casimir  IV.,  king 
of  Poland,  to  be  acknowledged  as  his  successor.  In  the  person  of 
this  prince,  distinguished  as  Wladlslaus  V.,  of  Bohemia,  and  as 
Ladislaus  VI.,  of  Hungary,  these  two  kingdoms  became  united  in 
the  year  147!.  The  Bohemians  were  remaikable  for  their  large 
stature  and  muscular  strength  ;  and  in  their  dispositions  were  proud, 
irritable  and  fierce.  They  were  distinguished  for  courage,  high 
spirit  of  independence,  and  an  unconquerable  attachment  to  civil 
and  religious  liberty. 

It  is  not  certainly  known  at  what  [)eriod  Christianity  was  first 
planted  in  this  portion  of  Europe.  The  missionaries  in  the  time  of 
Gregory  II.,  or  in  the  beginning  of  the  eighth  century,  extended 
their  ministerial  labors  into  Saxony;  and  under  the  direction  of 
Winfrid,  better  known  as  Boniface,  bishoprics  were  established  in 
Wurtzburg,  ErI'urt,  &c.,  Boniface  being  constituted  primate  of 
Germany.  At  the  close  of  that  century,  Charlemagne  extended  his 
conquests  into  the  country,  and  displayed  his  religious  zeal  by  his 
efforts  to  convert  the  inhabitants  from  their  idolatrous  worship  of 
heathen  gods,  to  that  of  the  saints  and  the  cross.  About  the  mid- 
dle of  the  ninth  century,  Methodius  and  Cyril,  two  Greek  monks, 
sent  by  Theodora,  queen  regent  of  the  Eastern  empire,  propagated 
the  Christian  doctrines,  in  Mocsia,  Bulgaria,  Moravia  and  Bohemia. 
There  is  said  to  have  been  at  that  lime  few  traces  left  of  the  labors 
of  Charlemagne,  ainong  those  wild  and  uncultivated  nations.  The 
rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Greek  church  were  established  among 
them;  and  this  in  subsequent  centuries  became  the  source  of  bitter 
contentions  between  that  church  and  the  pontiffs  of  Rome,  who  en- 
deavored to  bring  them  under  their  spiritual  jurisdiction.  Borzi- 
noi  I.,  Sclavonian  duke  of  Bohemia,  emiiraced  Christianity  in  the 
year  894.  We  are  not  to  suppose,  however,  that  the  doctrines 
taught  were  strictly  in  accordance  with  the  pure  principles  of  spir- 
itual faith.  The  Greeks,  as  well  as  the  Latins,  were  themselves 
idolaters;  and  had  preserved  few  tenets  of  the  Christian  religion 
pure  and  uncorrupled.  It. has  been  already  mentioned,  that  at  the 
close  of  the  tenth  century  the  public  services  were  performed  in 
the  Sclavonian  language;  and  that  the  Bohemian  churches  differed 
in  other  respects  from  the  rituals  prescribed  by  the  Iioman  pontiffs. 
The  differences  arose  from  the  circumi- tannic  of  their  having  been 
organized,  at  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  agieeably  to  the  for- 


286  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15lh  cenlurj, 

rnulas  of  the  Greek  worship.  Popery  was  not  fully  established  in 
Bohemia  until  the  fourteenth  centuiy ;  through  the  inliuence,  or 
rather  by  the  authority  of  the  emperor  Charles  IV.;  for  the  Bo- 
hemians were  ever  averse  to  the  rites  and  ceremonies  of  the  Ro- 
mish church.  Many  of  them  indeed  continued  to  adhere  to  their 
ancient  rites,  and  in  consequence,  were  persecuted  and  driven  into 
the  mountains-,  vvliere  they  enjoyed  their  forms  of  worship,  inde- 
pendent of,  and  separate  from,  the  jurisdiction  of  the  pontitfs.  It 
was  among  the  adiierents  to  the  Greek  church,  that  the  doctrines 
of  Waldo,  who  fled  to  that  country  in  the  year  1 184,  were  favor- 
ably received.  At  the  commencement  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
there  were  in  Boliemia  eighty  thousand  Waldenses.  These  facts 
satisfactorily  explain  the  diffei'ences  which  are  stated  to  have  exist- 
ed among  tlie  religionists  in  the  beginning  of  tlie  fifteenth  century. 

Sieidan,  in  his  liistory  of  the  Reformation,  as  quoted  by  Jones, 
says  "  That  they  were  divided  into  three  classes,  or  sects.  The 
first  were  such  as  acknowledged  the  pope  of  Rome  to  be  head  of 
the  Church  and  vicar  of  Jesus  Christ;  the  second  were  those  that 
received  the  eucharist  in  both  kinds,  and  in  celebrating  mass,  read 
some  things  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  but  in  all  other  matters  differed 
nothing  from  the  church  of  Rome;  the  tliird  were  those  who  went 
by  the  name  of  Picards  or  Beghardi,  these  called  the  pope  of  Rome 
and  all  iiis  parly  anti-Christ,  and  the  wliore  that  is  described  in  tlie 
Revelation,  (chap,  xvii.)  They  admitted  of  nothing  but  the  Bible, 
as  the  ground  of  their  doctrine;  they  chose  their  own  priests  and 
bishops,  denied  marriages  to  no  man,  performed  no  offices  for  the 
dead,  and  had  but  few  holydays  and  ceremonies."  Such  is  saiil  to 
have  been  tlie  relation  of  the  did'erent  religious  parties  in  Bohemia 
at  this  period. 

The  cruel  martyrdom  of  Huss  and  Jerome  at  Constance,  in  the 
years  1415  and  1416,  excited  in  those  maintaining  similar  doctrines 
the  highest  resentment  and  fury.  This  feeling  was  still  more  ag- 
gravated by  the  measures  adopted  under  the  authority  of  the  Ro- 
man pontiff,  to  establish  in  Bohemia  uniformity  of  religious  worship, 
and  to  extirpate  heresy.  Papal  bulls  were  published  by  the  priests  ; 
who  exhorted  kings,  the  nobility,  and  all  who  were  in  authority,  to 
take  up  arms  against  heresy ;  and  jirotnised  the  forgiveness  of  all 
sins  to  any  person  who  would  kill  a  Bohemian  iieretic. 

The  populace,  incensed  by  the  insult  thus  offered  to  them,  and 
aroused  to  a  sense  of  the  dangers  which  threatened  them,  withdrew 
in  immense  numbers  from  the  city  of  Prague  ;  and  having  assembled 
at  about  five  miles  distant,  engaged  in  solemn  worship.  Three  hun- 
dred taldes  were  occupied  by  ai)out  forty  thousand  comnuinicants, 
who  received  the  sacrament  of  the  Lord's  8u|)per.  The  mountain 
to  which  they  retired  they  called  Tabor ;  and  there  they  erected 
tents,  and  prepared  to  deftMid  themselves  by  strong  fortifications. 
Their  numbers  were  increased  by  the  accession  of  four  hundred 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  287 

peasants/ with  their  wives  and  children;  w'ho  left  their  mountain 
retreats  and  united  with  the  Tal)orites.  Nicolas  of  Hussinet,  and 
John  Ziska,  were  the  leaders  of  this  formidable  band.  Under  the 
standards  of  these  resolute  cliicflains,  they  delei-mined  to  indict 
upon  their  enemies  ample  vengeance  for  the  murder  of  Jerome  and 
Huss,  and  to  secure  to  themselves  the  liberty  of  worshipping  God 
agreeably  to  the  dictates  of  their  own  conscience.  The  demolition 
of  the  churches  and  monasteries  was  the  first  exhibition  of  their 
violence.  From  1420  to  1424,  Bohemia  presented  a  scene  of  de- 
vastation and  ruin.  Ziska.  although  deprived  of  sight,  was  formid- 
able by  the  judgment  he  displayed  in  his  plans,  and  the  boldness 
and  indomitable  courage  with  which  they  were  executed.  The 
armies  of  the  emperor-  were  successively  defeated  ;  towns  were 
taken  and  destroyed;  and  his  progress  vvas  marked  by  desolation 
and  ruin.  The  war  vvas  carried  on  with  relentless  fury  on  both 
sides.  Each  party  believed  that  it  was  lawful,  nay  praiseworthy, 
to  exterminate  the  enemies  of  true  religion,  and  each  assumed  to 
be  the  defender  of  the  faith.  Historians  agree  that  tlie  acts  of 
cruelty  and  barbarity  on  both  sides  are  scarcely  paralleled  by  any 
events  on  record.  But  if  the  responsibility  for  these  atrocities  can 
by  any  nice  discriminations  in  casuistry  be  diminished  as  regards 
either,  let  the  heavier  weight  rest  upon  the  aggressor.  Cruelty, 
injustice,  and  a  palpable  violation  of  solemnly  pledged  faith  were 
the  initiative  acts  of  this  terrible  warfare;  and  these  were  followed 
up  by  introducing  into  the  kingdom  armed  troops,  encouraged  and 
invited  by  papal  bulls  to  carry  on  a  work  of  extermination  against 
the  inhabitants,  who  claimed  no  other  right  than  that  of  worship- 
ping God  as  he  had  required  in  his  word.  If  a  question  of  respon- 
sibility can  be  permitted  in  this  case,  that  party  which,  in  the  first 
instance,  disregarded  the  claims  of  humanity,  the  demands  of  jus- 
tice, and  the  plain  authority  of  Scripture,  must  be  answerable  be- 
fore the  tribunal  of  God  and  man  for  the  sufferings  of  the  innocent. 
Ziska  directed  that  his  skin  should  be  stretched  upon  a  drum  af- 
ter his  death,  as  an  instrument  to  inflame  the  courage  of  the  Ta- 
borites.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  command  of  the  insurgent  ar- 
mies by  Procopius,  a  converted  papist,  and  a  zealous  disciple  of 
Huss.  He  followed  up  with  equal  spirit  and  enthusiasm  the  victo- 
ries of  Ziska.  From  1424  to  1431,  he  pursued  his  conquests;  dis- 
comfitting  the  armies  of  the  empire,  destroying  the  convents  and 
churches,  and  murdering  the  priests  and  monks.  A  compromise 
was  at  length  efibctcd  by  a  concession  of  the  cup  to  the  laity  in  the 

'These  are  supposed  to  have  been  Wal  lenses,  the  descendants  of  the  followers  of 
Peter  Wuldo,  who,  two  iiiindrcd  and  fifty  years  hcforc,  had  fled  to  Iho  fusliioises  of 
the  mountains  to  escape  the  sword  o(  their  popish  persecutors. 

'Wenceslann  VI.,  king  of  Bolicniia,  died  in  1419,  and  his  hrothcr,  Pigismimd,  wlio 
was  thn  emperor  of  Germany,  succeeded  him  in  the  kiiifrdmn  After"  Si:ji~mund's 
death  in  1417,  Alhcrt  of  Austria,  emperor,  who  had  mairied  his  diiitrluer  hhzabcth 
couliiiued  tiiu  union  of  the  tlircc  crowns,  the  empire,  J5olieniia  and  IJumrary. 


288  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  centurjr. 

administration  of  the  sacrament.^  The  power  of  t!ie  empire  had 
failed  to  subdue  tliem.  Berlin,  Magdeburg,  and  Ratisbon,  had  each 
submitted  to  their  invincible  courage  and  strenglii.  "  l^rocopius, 
the  destroyer  of  a  hundied  cities  and  fourteen  hundied  villages,  re- 
turned to  Bohemia  with  3,000  carriages  loaded  with  booty."  The 
princes  of  the  empire  with  one  hundred  thousand  soldiers,  under 
the  command  of  Fi'ederick,  of  Brandenburg,  had  been  signally  de- 
feated at  Tauss,  witii  the  loss  of  11,000  men.  The  council  of 
Basle  convened  in  the  year  1431,  and  continued  its  session  until 
1443.  Negotiations  were  commenced.  The  Hussites  became 
divided  among  themselves,  into  three  distinct  parties,  the  Taborites, 
the  Calixtines,  and  the  Orplians.  The  first,  insisted  upon  a  radical 
reform  of  the  Church;  that  its  government  should  be  remodeled 
agreeably  to  its  apostolic  simplicity,  its  forms  of  worship  clianged 
upon  the  same  principles;  and  in  fine,  that  all  traces  of  the  reign- 
ing hiei'archy  should  be  swept  away.  The  second  party,  demand- 
ed a  restoration  of  the  ancient  rite  in  the  celebration  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  tlie  administration  of  both  bread  and  wine. 

The  deputies  who  attended  the  council,  entered  into  the  follow- 
ing compact,  "  That  the  word  of  God  shall  be  freely  preached  by 
able  ministers,  according  to  the  Holy  Sci'iptures,  without  any  hu- 
man invention.""  "  That  the  Lord''s  Supper  shall  be  administered 
unto  all  in  both  kinds,  and  divine  worship  performed  in  the  mother 
tongue."  ••'  That  open  sins  sliall  be  openly  punished,  according  to 
the  law  of  God,  without  respect  of  persons."'  "That  the  clergy 
should  exercise  no  worldly  dominion,  but  confine  themselves  to 
preaching  the  gospel."  These  articles  constitute  what  has  been 
termed  "  the  Bohemian  compacla,''''  and  were  assented  to,  by  the 
council  of  Basle  and  the  deputies  of  the  Hussites,  in  the  year  1433. 
This  negotiation  was  eventually  concluded  at  Prague,  by  7?*ineas 
Sylvius,  acting  under  the  authority  and  instructions  of  the  council, 
the  30ih  of  November;  and  therefore  is  also  entitled  "  i/ie  compac- 
tatcs  of  Fragile.'''* 

The  Calixtines  were  deluded  into  a  compromise  of  the  princi- 
ples for  which  they  had  taken  up  arms;  and  upon  the  faith  of  po- 
pery returned  to  a  communion  witli  tlie  Church;  and  by  this  fatal 
error,  in  the  end  gained  nothing.  In  consequence  of  this  secession 
from  the  body  of  the  Hussites,  a  conflict  arose  between  them ;  and 

'Tlio  council  of  Basle,  at  its  session  in  1431,  propitiated  tlieir  liostiiity  iiy  decree- 
ing, "  Sive  sub  vna  specie  sive  dvplici  quis  comminticat.  secundum  ordrnatiimtm  sen  ob- 
servdl'wnrrn  crckskc,  inrificit  di^rie  cmnnntnicavtilius  ad  snlutcm.'''  Thus  did  the  pa|)al 
cluircli  declare,  liiiit  the  frivjtiir  or  withhulilititr  llit;  sacrnineiital  wine  is  merely  a  mat- 
ter orecchsiaslicnl  oidinance  and  liiat  neither  tlie  one,  nor  the  other,  was  essential 
to  the  recc[)tion  of  liie  benefits  of  tlie  eiicliarist.  The  creed  of  pojte  Pius  IV  ,  which 
is  a  siimniarv  "f  popish  doctrines,  declares,  that  "  Under  otic  kind  only,  whole  and 
entire,  Chiist  and  a  true  sacrament,  is  taken  and  received."  (Art.  ISih  )  Whoever 
believes  not  this  shall  he  accuised.  Tims  ihe  council  of  Constance  decreed,  vvliat 
that  of  Baslo  denied,  and  lite  pope  I'iiis  IV..  and  the  <'oimcil  of  Trent,  have  both 
pronounced,  as  accursed,  tlie  solemn  decree  of  the  holy  futhcis  ut  Basle. 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  289 

in  a  desperate  battle  between  them  in  1434,  Procopius  was  slain  by 
Mainhard  of  Neuliaus,  the  leader  of  the  Calixtines.  After  this 
fatal  engaj^ement  liostilities  ceased,  and  "  Bohemia,  conquered  only 
by  Bohemians  themselves,  sunk  exhausted  at  the  feet  of  Sigismund 
and  submitted  to  his  sovereign  power." 

The  Taborites  refused  to  accede  to  the  compact,  and  adhered 
with  firmness  to  their  first  principles;  and  neither  persuasions  nor 
persecutions  could  induce  them  to  abandon  their  tenets,  and  enter 
into  communion  with  the  Romish  church.  At  length  Rokyzan, 
arch-bishop  of  Prague,  apprehensive  probably  of  another  insurrec- 
tion if  they  were  again  driven  to  extremities,  advised  all  who  were 
dissatisfied  with  the  existing  order  of  things  to  retire  to  the  Lord- 
ship of  Lititz,  between  Silesia  and  Moravia,  about  twenty  miles 
from  Prague.  About  the  year  1457,  a  society  of  the  Reformers 
assembled  there  was  organized  under  the  direction  of  one  of  their 
own  preachers,  Michael  Bradatz,  and  known  as  the  "  Bohemian  or 
United  Brethren."  By  their  enemies,  they  were  called  Picards  or 
Beghards,  and  on  account  of  their  seclusion,  Cavern-hunters.  "They 
bound  themselves,"  says  Jones,  "  to  a  rigorous  church  discipline; 
resolving  to  suffer  all  things  for  conscience'  sake;  and,  instead  of 
defending  themselves,  as  the  Taborites  had  done,  by  force  of  arms, 
their  only  weapons  were  to  be  pra3'er,  and  reasonable  remonstance 
against  the  rage  of  their  enemies."  Perrin,  as  quoted  by  Miller, 
states  that  "  The  Hussites,  being  engaged  in  separating  and  reform- 
ing their  churches  from  the  church  of  Rome,  understood  that  there 
were  some  churches  of  the  ancient  Waldenses  in  Austria,  in  which 
the  purity  of  the  gospel  was  retained,  and  in  which  there  were 
many  eminent  pastors.  In  order  to  ascertain  the  truth  of  this  ac- 
count, they  sent  two  of  their  ministers  and  two  elders,  in  1476,  to 
inquire  and  ascertain  what  those  flocks  or  congregations  were." 
"  The  Bohemian  brethren,"  says  Miller,  "  were  a  branch  of  the 
same  people  called  Waldenses.  They  had  removed  from  Picardy, 
in  the  north  of  France,  about  two  hundred  years  before  the  time 
of  Huss  and  Jerome,  to  Bohemia,  and  there,  in  conjunction  with 
many  natives  of  the  country,  whom  they  brought  over  to  their 
opinions,  established  a  number  of  pure  cliurches,  which  long  main- 
tained tlie  simplicity  of  the  gospel."  "  Many  of  the  ancient  Wal- 
denses," says  Jones,  "  who  had  been  lurking  about  in  dens  and 
caves  of  the  earth,  as  well  as  upon  the  tops  of  the  mountains,  now 
came  forward  with  alacrity,  and  joining  tiiemselves  to  the  "  United 
Brethren,"  became  eminently  serviceable  to  the  newly  formed  so- 
cieties, in  consequence  of  their  more  advanced  state  of  religious 
knowledge  and  experience.  Many  of  the  new  converts  renounced 
the  baptism  of  infants,  and  were  I)aptized  by  the  pastors  beforts 
they  were  receiveil  into  church  communion." 

The  "United  Brethren"  rejecfi'd  the  do(;trine  of  transubstantia- 
tion,  and  admitted  that  there  is  a  mystical,  spiritual  presence  of 
19 


290  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15th  ccnlury. 

Christ  in  the  consecrated  elements.  The  sacrament  was  adminis- 
tered by  them  in  both  kinds.  The  sacred  Scriptures  formed  their 
only  rule  of  faith.  They  professed  to  have  organized  their  church 
in  every  respect  agreeably  to  the  apostolic  plan ;  as  their  object 
was  to  restore  the  Christian  religion  to  its  original  purity.  As  to 
their  church  government,  we  are  informed  by  Martin  Bucer,  who 
was  born  in  Alsace  on  the  Rhine  in  the  year  1491,  that  "  besides 
ministers  of  the  word  and  sacraments,  they  had  in  each  church  a 
bench  or  college  of  men,  excelling  in  gravity  and  prudence,  who 
performed  the  duties  of  admonishing  and  correcting  otlenders,  com- 
posing ditl'erences  and  judicially  deciding  in  cases  of  dispute." 
Budda^us,  in  his  edition  of  the  "  History  of  the  Bohemian  Brethren 
by  Comenius,"  has  expressed  himself  to  the  same  eti'ect;  and  "  Al- 
though," as  Miller  remarks,  "  he  does  not  seem  prepared  to  allow 
that  the  office  of  ruling  elders  existed,  as  a  separate  office,  in  the 
apostolic  church;  yet  he  thinks  that,  virtually,  and  in  substance,  it 
did  make  a  part  of  the  apostolic  system  of  supervision  and  order." 
About  the  year  1461,  the  arch-bishop  of  Prague,  alarmed  by 
their  unexpected  increase  of  numbers,  commenced  a  persecution, 
which  drove  them  from  tljeir  dwellings,  and  deprived  them  of  their 
possessions.  They  were  exposed  to  the  severities  of  the  winter, 
and  great  numbers  of  them  perished  from  cold  and  hunger.  They 
were  imprisoned  and  subjected  to  cruel  punishments.  "  They  were 
maimed  in  their  hands  and  feet,  inhumanly  dragged  at  the  tails  of 
horses  and  carts,  and  quartered  or  burnt  alive."  They  were  patient 
under  their  suiferings;  and  their  enemies  were  encouraged  by  their 
passiveness.  A  temper  to  endure  without  resentment  invited  ag- 
gression; and  a  quiet  submission  to  their  fate  but  aggravated  their 
distresses.  Tliey  lied  from  their  inhuman  tormentors,  and  sought 
protection  in  the  recesses  of  the  mountains,  in  caves  of  the  earth, 
and  in  deserts.  Secure  from  their  pursuers,  in  the  fastnesses  to 
wliich  they  retreated,  they  enjoyed  the  exercise  of  their  religion. 
The  storm  of  persecution  was  unremitted,  until  the  accession  of 
Wladislaus,  prince  of  Poland,  to  the  throne  of  Bohemia  and  Hun- 
gary, in  the  year  1471.  He  was  humane  and  just  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  government ;  and  the  measures  he  adopted  towards 
the  Reformers  encouraged  their  return  to  their  habitations.  They 
resumed  their  accustomed  occupations ;  devoted  themselves  to  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  or  engaged  in  literary  pursuits ;  and  in  a 
short  time  were  in  prosperous  circumstances.  Their  numbers  rap- 
idly increased;  and  their  churches  were  flourishing.  "  They  took 
such  deep  root,"  said  one  of  their  inveterate  enemies,  "  and  extend- 
ed their  branches  so  far  and  wide,  that  it  was  impossible  to  extir- 
pate them."  In  the  beginning  of  the  sixteenth  century,  there  were 
two  hundred  congregations  of  the  United  Brethren  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia.  "  They  got  the  Bililc,"  says  Jones,  "  translated  into  the 
Bohemian  tongue,  and  printed  at  Venice.     When  thai  edition  was 


1.5th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  291 

disposed  of,  they  got  two  more  printed  at  Nuremberg;  and  finding; 
the  demand  lor  the  Holy  Scriptures  continuing  to  increase,  they  es- 
tablished a  printing  office  at  Prague,  another  at  Bunzlau  in  Bohemia, 
and  a  third  at  Kralitz  in  Moravia." 

The  United   Brethren  were  permitted  to  enjoy  their  religious 
privileges  with  little  molestation  for  nearly  twenty  years  after  the 
accession  of  Wladislaus.     The  popisli  clergy  were  urgent  in  their 
applications  to  the  king,  for  the  abrogation  of  these  rights,  and  a 
coiruTiission  to  inquire  after  heresies.   Every  expedient  and  artifice, 
to  induce  the  Bohemian  monarch  to  sanction  the  persecution  of  any 
of  his  subjects  on  account  of  their  religious  opinions,  having  failed, 
the  bishops  and  prelates  addressed  themselves  to  the  religious  scru- 
ples of  the  queen.     Persuaded  by  them  that  her  duly  to  God  de- 
manded of  her  to  exercise  her  influence  for  the  expulsion  from  the 
kingdom  of  the  enemies  of  his  church,  she  made  an  atfectionate 
appeal  to  the  king;  and  whilst  he  hesitated,  Bossack,  an  Hungarian 
bisliop,  who  had  contrived  the  whole  plot,  wrote  an  edict  in  his 
presence,  which  through  the  solicitations  of  the  queen  he  signed. 
As  soon,  however,  as  he  had  done  this,  he  retired  to  his  chamber, 
and  on  his  knees  implored  of  the  Almighty  forgiveness  for  the  sin 
he  had  committed,  and  the  protection  of  tliose  whom  he  had  against 
the  dictates  of  his  conscience  given  up  to  the  merciless  power  of 
the  popish  priests.     The  king,  notwithstanding  his  assent  to  the 
edict,  discouraged  its  enforcement;  and  the  civil  authorities  were 
therefore  cautious  in  aiding  the  clergy.    It  was  not  until  four  years 
after  its  publication  that  the  States  gave  their  formal  assent  to  the 
execution  of  its  provisions.    By  this  statute,  "■  the  United  Brethren 
were  prohibited  from  holding  any  religious  assemblies,  public  or 
private;  their  meeting  houses  were  closed;  preaching  and  printing 
by  them  were  forbidden;  and  they  were  all  required,  within  a  given 
time,  to  enter  into  communion  with  the  Calixtines  or  the  papists.'^ 
The  consequence  of  these   rigid  and  unjust  requirements  was,  that 
many  of  this  persecuted  sect  removed  out  of  the  kingdom ;  others 
retreated  again  to  the  mountains;  but  great  numbers  of  them  were 
seized  and  committed  to  the  flames  without  the  formalities  of  a  trial. 
These  occurrences  took  place  at  the  close  of  the  century.     The 
persecution  was  continued  with  little  intermission  from  the  year 
1490  to  1522,  when,  it  appears  from  their  correspondence  witli  Lu- 
ther, they  hail  designed  to  compromise  with  the  papists.     In  154S, 
one  thousand  of  them  emigrated  from  Bohemia  to  Prussia  and  Po- 
land.    In  1570,  they  entered  into  an  agreement  with  the  Polish 
Lutherans  and  Calvinistic  churches.     In  1572,  an  act  of  toleration 
was  passed  in  their  favor.     Those  who  remained  in  Bohemia  and 
Moravia  were  protected  from  further  persecution  by  an  edict  pub- 
lislied  by  the  emperor  Maximilian  U.,  in  the  year  1570.     They 
were  then  very  numerous  in  the  latter;  and  wei"e  therefore  distin- 
guished from  that  time  as  the  "  Moravian  Brethren."     They  ap- 


292  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST.  [15lh  centurj. 

proved  of  the  Augsburg  Confession,  which  was  drawn  up  by  Mel- 
ancthon,  and  adopted  by  the  diet  of  German  princes  in  1530,  as  a 
summary  of  their  religious  creed;  but  on  account  of  their  peculiar 
discipline,  they  continued  to  be  a  distinct  society.  In  1120,  the 
Moravian  brethren  emigrated  from  Bohemia  and  Moravia  to  Upi)er 
Lusatia,  and  settled  on  the  estates  of  INicolas  Lewis,  count  Zin- 
zendorf.  The  count,  having  received  clerical  orders  from  the  the- 
ological faculty  of  Nubingen,  united  with  the  society,  and  in  1735, 
became  one  of  their  bishops  or  pastors.  We  will  now  revert  to 
the  period  of  our  history. 

The  Vaudois  were  not  disturbed  in  the  enjoyment  of  their  re- 
ligious rights,  after  the  persecutions  they  endured  in  the  beginning 
of  this  century,  until  the  year  1484.  Innocent  VIII.,  was  in  that 
year  elevated  to  the  pontifical  throne;  and  as  it  was  customary  for 
the  successors  of  St.  Peter  to  display  their  zeal  for  the  religion  of 
Jesus  Christ,  by  the  butchery  of  their  fellow  creatures,  as  the  first 
official  duty  incumbent  upon  them,  this  faithful  shepherd  of  the 
flock,  showed  his  pastoral  solicitude  for  those  who  had  strayed 
from  the  fold,  by  pursuing  them  with  tlie  spiritual  and  material 
sword.  "  We  have  heard,"  said  this  holy  father  in  his  apostolic 
epistle  directed  to  Albert  de  Capitaneis,  arch-bishop  of  Cremona, 
"  and  it  has  come  to  our  knowledge,  not  without  much  displeasure, 
that  certain  sons  of  iniquity,  followers  of  that  abominable  and  per- 
nicious sect  of  malignant  men,  called  the  Poor  of  Lyons,  or  Wal- 
denses,  who  have  long  endeavored,  in  Piedmont  and  otVier  places, 
to  ensnare  the  sheep  belonging  to  God,  to  the  perdition  of  their 
souls,  having  damnably  risen  up,  under  a  feigned  pretence  of  holi- 
ness— being  given  up  to  a  reprobate  sense,  and  made  to  err  greatly 
from  the  truth — committing  things  contrary  to  the  orthodox  faith, 
ofiensive  to  the  eyes  of  the  divine  majesty,  and  which  occasion  a 
great  hazard  of  souls,  &c.  &c.  We,  therefore,  having  determined 
to  use  all  our  endeavors,  and  to  employ  all  our  care,  as  we  are 
bound  by  the  duty  of  our  pastoral  charge,  to  root  up  and  extirpate 
such  a  detestable  sect,  that  the  hearts  of  believers  may  not  be  dam- 
nably perverted  from  the  Catholic  (papal)  church,  have  thought 
good  to  constitute  you,  at  this  time,  for  the  cause  of  God  and  the 
faith,  the  nuncio  commissioner  of  us  and  of  the  apostolic  see,  with- 
in the  dominions  of  our  beloved  son  Charles, ^  duke  of  Savoy,  to 
the  end  that  you  should  induce  the  follow^ers  of  the  most  wicked 
sect  of  the  Waldenses,  and  all  others  polluted  \^  ilh  heretical  praV- 
ity,  to  abjure  their  errors,  &c.  &c.  And,  calling  to  your  assistance 
all  arch-bishops  and  bishops,  seated  in  the  said  duchy  (of  Savoy) 
whom  the  Most  High  hath  called  to  share  with  us  in  our  cares  with 
the  inquisitor,  the  ordinaries  of  the  place,  the  vicars,  &c.,  you  pro- 

'Chailns  I.,  the  finii  duke  of  Savoy.  I'e  v  nlso  known  in  liistory  "s  kiii<r  of  Cy- 
((fiip.  tic  wiis  also  dislinguislied  by  llie  title  of  tlie  "  WarliKe."  lie  reifjJictJ  luiin 
1482  to  14S9. 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  293 

ceed  to  the  execution  thereof  against  the  afoienamed  Waldenses, 
and  all  other  heretics  whatever,  to  rise  up  in  arms  a^^ainst  them, 
and  by  a  joint  communication  of  processes,  to  tread  them  under 
foot  as  venomous  adders;  ddigently  providing  that  the  people  com- 
niiited  to  their  charge  do  persevere  in  the  profession  of  the  true 
failh,  bending  all  }'our  endeavors,  and  bestowing  all  your  care  to- 
wards so  holy  and  so  necessary  an  exlennniation  of  the  same  here- 
tics." Ill  this  style,  says  Jones,  from  whose  history  I  have  extracted 
this  papal  bull,  the  pontiff  pioceeds  through  several  succeeding  pa- 
ges, giving  directions  for  the  raising  of  an  army  of  crusaders,  ap- 
pointing generals  and  officers  to  command  it,  issuing  instructions 
how^  to  seize  the  effects  of  all  heretics  and  to  dispose  of  the  booty, 
&c.,  &c.,  and  at  length  he  thus  closes  the  address  to  Albert,  "  Thou, 
therefoie,  beloved  son,  taking  upon  thee  with  a  devout  mind  the 
burden  of  so  meritorious  a  work,  show  thyself,  in  the  execution 
thereof,  so  careful  in  word  and  deed,  and  so  diligent  and  studious, 
that  the  much  wished  for  fruits  may,  through  the  grace  of  God,  re- 
dound unto  thee  from  thy  labors,  and  that  thou  mayest  not  only  ob- 
tain the  crown  of  glory,  which  is  bestowed  as  a  reward  on  those 
that  prosecute  pious  causes,  but  that  thou  mayest  also  ensure  the 
approbation  of  us,  and  of  the  apostolic  see."  Given  at  Rome,  at 
St.  Peter's,  2Tth  April,  1487,  and  the  3d  of  our  Popedom. 

With  this  commission  the  arch-bishop  proceeded  to  the  holy 
work  of  exterminating  lieretics.  The  devoted  southern  provinces 
of  France  were  the  scenes  of  his  first  acts  of  barbarity.  Dauplune 
was  the  theatre  of  his  cruelties;  and  the  valley  of  Loyse,  witnessed 
the  indiscriminate  slaughter  and  wide  spread  desolation  which 
marked  the  i)rogiess  of  the  crusaders.  The  inhabitants  tied  to  the 
mountains,  pursued  by  tbe  invading  forces.  To  elude  their  pursu- 
ers, they  retreated  into  the  caverns  of  the  mountains.  'J'he  vigil- 
ance with  which  they  were  traced  enabled  their  enemies  to  follow 
their  footsteps  with  unerring  precision.  The  entrances  of  the 
caves,  in  which  they  had  secreted  themselves  with  their  wives  and 
children,  were  closed  w'ith  combustibles  and  burnt.  Those  who 
escaped  the  conflagration,  were  cither  slaughtered,  or  precipitating 
themselves  upon  the  rocks  beneath  were  dashed  in  pieces.  Four 
hundred  cliildren,  witli  their  motlu;rs,  were  destroyed  by  sulVoca- 
tion.  Three  thousand  [)ersons,  says  the  historian,  inhal/itaiits  of 
the  valley  of  Loyse,  perish(;d  in  this  crusade.  The  destruction 
was  complete  ;  for  not  one  iniiabitant  was  supposed  to  have  escaped. 
They  were  wholly  exterminated  ;  and  the  valley  was  afterward 
peopled  with  new  inhabitants,  not  one  family  of  the  Waldenses 
having  subsequently  resided  in  it.  Such  was  the  awful  commence- 
ment of  this  persecution. 

'IMie  nuncio  commissioner  proceeded  with  Ills  army  to  the  valley 
of  Fiaissiniere ;  but  his  [)ersonal  pies"nce  being  recpilred  in  Pied- 
mont, he  appointed  a  Franciscan  monk  to  prosecute  the  war;  and 


294  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST,  [15th  cetitury. 

marched  across  the  Alps  with  an  army  of  eighteen  thousand  soldiers 
against  the  Vaudois.  Thus  was  a  war  of  extermination  carried  on, 
at  the  same  time,  on  both  sides  of  the  mountains. 

The  inhabitants  of  Fraissiniere,  in  the  province  of  Dauphine,^ 
although  })oor  and  secluded  from  the  world,  and  with  few  traits  of 
civilization,  were  notwithstanding  remarkable  for  their  cultivation 
of  the  precepts  of  morality  and  religion.  Tlieir  knowledge  ex- 
tended but  little  beyond  what  was  derived  from  the  sacred  vScrip- 
tures.  These  formed  the  standard  of  their  faitli ;  and  from  these 
only  they  drew  their  spiritual  instruction.  Rude  as  was  their  man- 
ner of  living,  and  semi-barbarous  as  they  appear  to  have  been  in 
their  general  character,  their  moral  principles,  founded  upon  the 
word  of  God,  bore  evidences  of  the  excellency  and  purity  of  their 
source.  In  their  retired  dwellings  they  were  contented  and  ha|)py. 
Supporting  themselves  by  the  products  of  the  soil,  and  the  game 
of  the  forests,  their  necessities  were  supplied;  witliout  the  desire 
or  the  knowledge  of  luxuries.  Their  clothing  was  of  the  skins  of 
sheep;  their  food,  venison,  milk,  and  the  fruit  of  their  fields.  In 
lowliness  and  meekness,  they  preserved  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in 
the  bond  of  peace.  Descendants  of  tlie  Albigenses,  they  cherished 
with  religious  fervor  and  Christian  steadfastness,  the  doctrines  for 
which  their  ancestors  had,  nearly  three  hundred  years  before,  so 
severely  suffered.  Tliey  believed  that  the  church  of  Rome,  hav- 
ing renounced  the  faith  of  Christ,  was  the  whore  of  Babylon,  des- 
cribed in  the  Apocalypse,  that  barren  tree  which  Christ  himself 
commanded  to  be  rooted  up,  that  the  pope  and  the  bishops  who 
cherish  his  errors  ought  not  to  be  obeyed,  they  renounced  all  com- 
munion with  Rome  and  its  abominations.  Voltaire,  in  his  account 
of  the  VValdenses  of  this  century,  says  "  In  the  space  of  two  hun- 
dred and  tifty  years,  their  number  had  increased  to  18,000,  who 
were  dispersed  in  thirty  small  towns,  besides  hamlets.  All  this  was 
the  fruit  of  their  industry.  There  were  no  priests  among  them,  no 
quarrels  about  religious  worship,  no  law  suits;  they  determined 
their  differences  among  themselves.  None  but  those  who  repaired 
to  the  neighboring  cities  knew  that  there  existed  any  such  things 
as  mass  or  bishops.  They  prayed  to  God  in  their  own  jargon; 
and,  being  continually  employed,  they  had  the  happiness  to  know 
no  vice.  This  peaceful  state  they  enjoyed  for  above  two  hundred 
years,  since  the  wars  against  the  Albigenses,  with  which  the  nation 
had  been  wearied."     "  Such  was  the  tranquillity  which  the  Wal- 

•"  In  these  Alpine  solitudes,  then  disturbed  by  Roman  fanaticism,  (1489,)  three 
leagues  from  the  uneieiit  town  of  Gaj),  in  the  direction  of  Grenoble,  not  (iir  from  the 
flowery  tnrf  that  clothes  the  table  linid  of  HayariPs  nionntain,  at  the  foot  of  the 
Mont  de  rAi<ruiIle,  and  near  to  the  (^ol  do  Claizo,  towards  the  source  of  the  IJnzim, 
stood,  and  still  stanas  a  group  of  iiouses,  half  hidden  by  surromidinjr  trees,  and 
known  by  the  name  of  Fare),  or  in  p.ilois.  Fareau.  Here,  and  in  that  year,  was 
horn,  the  celebrated  rolornicr,  William  Farel,  the  disciple  of  Lefevre  of  Elai)!cs." 
-{D'Aubigne.) 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  christ.  295 

deiises  enjoyed,  when  the  reformers  of  Germany  and  Geneva  came 
to  hear  that  there  were  others  of  the  same  persuasion  as  themselves. 
Immediately  they  sent  some  of  their  ministers^  a  name  given  to  the 
curates  of  the  Protestant  churches,  to  visit  them;  and  since  then, 
the  VValdenses  are  but  too  well  known."  Such  was  the  character 
of  the  VValdenses  of  the  Valley  of  Fraissiniere,  at  tlie  close  of  the 
fifteenth  century,  when  their  peaceful  ahodes  were  invaded  by  the 
savage  bloodhounds  of  the  Roman  pontitf. 

Tliey  inhabited  seven  villages.  Their  houses  were  rudely  coi>- 
structed  witli  stone  cemented  by  clay.  There  were  two  caves  in 
the  mountains;  mto  one  of  which  tliey  drove  their  cattle,  and  in 
the  other  they  secreted  themselves,  when  invaded  by  the  popish 
armies. 

The  Franciscan  monk,  who  directed  the  expedition  against  them, 
summoned  them  to  appear  at  Ambrun.  This  citation  they  disre- 
garded ;  well  aware  of  the  intentions  of  this  deputy-nuncio.  In 
consequence  of  this,  they  were  formally  excommunicated,  anathe- 
matized, and  condemned  to  be  delivered  over  to  the  secular  power 
as  contumacious  heretics;  and  tlieir  goods  were  confiscated.  Thirty- 
two  articles,  containing  accusations  against  them,  were  drawn  up 
by  the  counselor  Ponce,  and  placed  at  the  door  of  the  Church. 
This  sentence  embraced  without  distinction  all  who  were  suspected 
of  or  charged  with  heresy.  In  consequence  of  this  final  and  sweep- 
ing adjudication,  tiie  VValdenses  were  pursued;  and  were  immedi- 
ately committed  to  the  flames  wherever  apprehended,  without  the 
privilege  of  appeal.  Whilst  this  relentless  persecution  was  carried 
on  in  Fi-ance,  on  the  western  declivities  of  the  Alpine  mountains, 
along  the  banks  of  the  Durance,  the  army  under  the  command  of 
Albert,  descended  the  elevations  on  the  eastern  side,  and  com- 
menced the  work  of  murder  and  devastation  in  the  valleys  of  tlie 
Po.  His  army,  already  numbering  eighteen  thousand,  was  rein- 
forced by  the  papists  who  dwelt  ni  Piedmont,  and  who  assisted 
with  pious  zeal  in  the  destruction  of  their  heretical  neighbors.  The 
remission  of  sins,  and  legalized  plunder,  were  the  rewards  freely 
offered  by  the  vicar  of  Christ;  and  thousands  rallied  under  the 
standard  of  his  commissioner,  persuaded  that  they  wei-e  doing 
God's  service  l)y  the  slaughter  of  their  own  fellow-creatures.  The 
communes  of  Angrogne,  Lucerna,  La  Perouse,  St.  Martin,  Pravig- 
lerm  and  Biolet,  were  occupied  by  the  invading  troops;  and  thus 
were  the  valleys  environed  on  all  sides;  and  resistance  or  death 
were  the  only  alternatives  left  to  the  inhabitants.  Encompassed  by 
their  enemies,  and  driven  by  desperation  to  their  own  defense,  the 
Vaudois  seized  the  most  favorable  heights,  and  with  such  weapons 
as  they  could  procure,  opposed  with  uneciual  numbers,  and  repulsed 
their  invaders.  "  The  women  and  children  on  their  knees,  during 
the  conflict,  entreated  the  Lord  to  protect  his  people."  Albert  was 
compelled  to  retreat  with  great  loss     But  the  overwhelming  force 


296  THE  CHURCH  OF  CHRIST;  [15th  century. 

of  numbers  enabled  him  to  seize  the  dispersed  inhabitants,  and  to 
desolate  the  country.  The  court  of  inquisition  was  estabhshed  at 
Pignerol,  and  under  its  commission  all  wlio  were  apprehended,  were 
delivered  over  by  a  summary  process  to  the  secular  power. 

Philip  VTl.,  duke  of  Savoy,  was  the  reigning  sovereign,  whilst 
these  cruel  persecutions!  were  carried  on  against  his  peaceful  sub- 
jects by  the  emissaries  of  the  pope.  His  heart  was  touched  with 
compassion  for  iheir  sutierings.  He  declared  that  they  had  always 
been  loyal  and  peaceable;  hut  the  misrepresentations  of  their  ene- 
mies had  excited  his  prejudices  against  them.  He  had  been  told 
that  they  were  human  monsters,  that  "the  young  children  were 
born  with  black  throats;  were  baity;  had  four  rows  of  teeth,  and 
only  one  eye  which  was  placed  in  the  middle  of  their  forehead." 
These  physical  deformities  were  represented  by  popish  bigotry  as 
not  moie  hideous  and  disgusting  than  the  wickedness  of  their  hearts, 
and  the  pollutions  of  their  heretical  depravity.  Innocent  had  call- 
ed upon  Christendom  to  rise  up  in  its  strength,  and  to  tread  these 
monsters  under  foot  as  venomous  adders.  Philip,  having  satisfied 
himself  of  the  falsehoods  which  had  been  imposed  upon  him,  ex- 
pressed his  regret  that  he  had  given  credit  to  such  idle  and  mali- 
cious fabrications,  and  piomised  to  extend  to  them  his  protection. 

But  the  good  intentions  of  Philip  were  defeated  by  the  influence 
of  popish  power,  and  the  general  prevalence  of  religious  bigotry; 
and  his  death  not  long  after  placed  the  succession  in  his  son  Phili- 
bert,  v\ho,  by  his  marriage  with  the  daughter  of  Maximilian  I.,  be- 
came involved  in  the  political  movements  of  the  empire.  The  Vau- 
dois,  thus  left  to  the  tender  mercies  of  their  persecutors,  were  at 
length  compelled  to  abandon  their  tbitns  of  public  worship.  Such 
was  the  condition  of  this  people  through  the  latter  part  of  this  cen- 
tury. Their  history  subsequently  will  be  resumed  in  the  narration 
of  events  connected  with  the  progress  of  the  Reibrination  in  the 
sixteenth  century. 

We  have  adverted  to  the  popish  persecutions  in  Scotland,  in  the 
years  1422  and  1431.  In  the  year  1494,  they  were  continued  by 
Blackadder,  arch-bishop  of  Glasgow.  Thirty  persons  were  ar- 
rested as  Lollards;  and  chargrd  with  maintaining  heretieal  o|)inions. 
Among  these  were  many  of  distinguished  families,  as  lady  Pokellic, 
lady  Stair,  &c.  Thirty-four  articles  were  drawn  up,  defining  the 
errors  of  which  they  were  accused.  They  were  charged  with 
having  alTirmed  ;  that  images  ought  not  to  be  made,  or  worshipped  ; 
that  the  relics  of  saints  ought  not  to  be  adored;  that  it  is  not 
lawful  to  fight  for  the  faith;   that  after  the  consecration  of  the 

'  Tiiese  persecutions  were  conlinuod  with  little  intermission,  from  I4S8  to  1532. 
Philip,  siirnainod  Sine  Ti-rra,  riMuiicd  one  year  only.  In  lii.s  o-overninent  ho  dis- 
playud  both  rnodcriilioti  iind  wisddni  lli'  \v;is  tho  fiilher  ol'lhe  cclc!)ral(!d  i onisu  of 
Savoy,  mother  of  Francis  I.  of  I'Vanni!.  His  son  Plidibert  It  ,  rcijfned  from  1497  to 
1504.  Charles  lil.,  siinmnied  llie  (iood,  his  second  son,  ri'iyned  from  15U4  to  1553. 
EmanncI  Phihtieri.  son  of  Charles,  reigned  from  1553  to  15S0.  He  married  IVJarya- 
ret,  the  daughter  of  Francis  1. 


15th  century.]  the  church  of  chuist.  297 

mass  there  remainetli  bread,  and  that  the  natural  body  of  Christ  is 
not  tlieie  ;  that  every  jaitliful  man  or  woman  is  a  piiest;  that  the 
pope  is  not  the  suecessor  of  Peter,  except  in  that  which  our  Sa- 
vior spoke  to  him,  ''Go  beiiind  me  Satan;"  that  the  pope  de- 
ceives the  people  with  his  bulls  and  iiidulij;ences;  that  the  mass 
profiteth  not  the  souls  in  purgatory  ;  that  the  pope  exalts  himself 
above  God,  and  against  God  ;  that  priests  may  have  wives,  &c. 
&c.  James  IV.,  the  reigning  monarch  of  Scotland,  was  a  prince 
endowed  with  many  excellent  qualities.  Mis  influence  arrested  the 
prosecution,  as  many  ot  those  accused  were  highly  esteemed  by 
him-,  and  he  was  more  studious  of  the  permanent  prosperity  of  his 
country,  than  of  the  extirpation  of  heresy  by  murdering  his  sub- 
jects (or  their  religious  opinions.  "  Those  worthy  persons  of  Ayr- 
shire," says  McGavin,  "escaped  the  fury  of  their  persecutors; 
but  no  thanks  to  the  arch-bishop  of  Glasgow,  or  to  the  church  of 
Rome,  who  would  gladly  have  had  tliem  all  at  the  stake.  Consid- 
ering the  articles  laid  to  their  cliarge,  one  is  astonished  that  they 
should  have  acquired  so  much  spiritual  light  in  an  age  of  darkness, 
while  yet  the  Bible  had  not  been  printed  in  their  language,  and 
Wicklitle's  translation  in  manuscript  must  have  been  possessed  by 
few  of  them." 

Louis  XII.  ascended  the  throne  of  Fiance  in  tiie  year  1498. — 
Having  heen  informed  by  the  popish  [)riests  tiiat  the  Waldenses  of 
Provence  and  Dauphine  had  committed  abominable  oflTenses,  and 
were  proper  objects  of  the  vengeance  of  the  la\v,  he  sent  his  con- 
fessor, a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  and  with  him  the  master  of  re- 
quests, to  inquire  of  tlie  facts  alledged  against  them.  They  report- 
ed, that  none  of  the  crimes  with  which  they  were  charged  could 
be  discovered  among  them  ;  that  they  were  not  only  observant  of 
the  Sal)hath  and  of  the  ordinances  of  the  Church,  but  that  they 
were  particularly  careful  ol'  the  instruction  of  their  children  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures;  and  the  confessor  observed,  tliat  "He  only  de- 
sired to  be  as  good  a  Christian  as  the  worst  of  them."  The  king, 
having  hetird  the  statement  of  his  commissioners,  said,  with  an  oath, 
that  "  They  were  better  men  than  himself  or  his  people;"  and  or- 
dered a  restitution  of  the  property  which  had  been  taken  from  them. 
The  arch-bishop  of  Ainbiun,  reluscd  to  surrender  any  portion  of 
that  \vhieh  he  had  appropriated  to  himself,  deelai-ing  it  incorpora- 
ted with  the  eeelesiastical  estate;  and  replied  to  the  king,  that  "At 
the  commencement  of  the  persecution,  the  Waldenses  had  been 
excommunicated  by  the  pope,  in  consequence  of  which  their  goods 
were  destrained;  therefore,  till  the  sentence  of  ex{;ommunication 
was  taken  off,  which  had  occasioned  them  to  be  seized,  they  could 
not  be  restored  with  propriety."  The  king  admitted  the  validity 
of  the  plea,  which  he  was  in  trutli  fearful  of  questioning;  and  as 
the  pO|)e  refused  to  revoke  the  sentence  of  excommunication,  the 
property  of  which  those  aillieted  p(!Ople  had  been  forcibly  and  un- 
justly divested,  remained  as  a])purtenant  to  the  bishopric  of  Ambrun. 


298  THE  CHURCH  OF   CHRIST. 

CHAPTER    XIII. 
SUPPLEMENT. 

Havikg  concluded  the  histor}^  of  the  Christian  Church,  from  the 
period  of  its  institution  to  the  commencement  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, and  traced  througli  each  successive  aji;e  the  progress  of  its 
Reformation,  it  would  not  be  inappropriate  or  irrelevant  to  refer 
here  more  particularly  to  the  doctrines  and  articles  of  (aitli  which 
foi-med  the  religious  creed  of  the  Vaudois  or  inhabitants  of  the 
valley  of  Piedmont.  So  much  as  relates  to  the  history  of  their  ori- 
gin, and  their  subsequent  connection  with  the  Church  of  Christ, 
and  the  important  agency  assigned  to  them  by  divine  Providence  in 
wiliistanding  the  usurpations  of  the  papal  power,  and  purifying 
the  Church  from  its  corruptions,  has  been  already  noticed  as  cir- 
cumstantially as  the  limits  prescribed  to  this  work  would  permit. 
The  Vaudois  were  evidently  a  people  set  apart,  and  chosen  by  the 
great  Head  of  the  Church  as  witnesses  of  the  truth.  They  in  part, 
constituted  the  Church  in  the  wilderness.  By  facts,  as  well  attest- 
ed as  any  others  of  equal  antiquity,  recorded  in  profane  history,  we 
have  traced  their  origin  from  the  middle  of  the  tiiird  century.  They 
have  themselves,  dated  their  existence,  as  worshippers  of  the  spir- 
itual cross,  and  depositaries  of  the  true  faith,  from  that  period. 

The  beginning  of  the  tenth  century  has  been  considered  as  the 
point  of  time  in  the  history  of  nations,  when  the  last  reflected  twi- 
light of  declining  literature  disappeared  fi-om  the  horizon  of  the 
moral  world.  Then  commenced  an  age  of  mental  darkness.  The 
period  embraced  within  the  years  96  and  180,  has  been  designated 
as  that  in  which  "  the  condition  of  the  human  race  was  most  hap- 
py and  prosperous."  With  the  reign  of  Commodus,  commenced  a 
new  era  of  tyranny  and  oppression,  of  menial  servitude,  degrada- 
tion, and  ignorance.  The  spirit  of  literature  gradually  declined. 
In  the  fourth  century  appeared  on  the  western  shores  of  the  Eux- 
ine,  the  first  wave  of  that  inundation  which  swept  over  Europe  in 
the  succeeding  centuries.  The  conquests  by  those  northern  tribes 
accelerated  the  consummation  of  the  age  of  darkness,  which  had 
already  commenced.  In  the  picceding  eenlury  few  writers  of  any 
distinction  appeared.  The  pursuits  of  literature  were  neglected; 
and  the  Latin  tongue  lost  much  of  its  original  |)urity.  The  medium 
of  communicating  knowledge  was  accessible  to  few,  being  restrict- 
ed entirely  to  manuscri[)ts.  The  neglect  of  the  writings  of  the 
Augustan  age  of  Rome,  by  the  superstitious  prejudices  of  the  cler- 
gy against  them,  introduced  a  vitiated  taste  in  letters;  and  at  length 
their  jx)sitive  proscription  by  the  council  of  Carthage  in  398,  ban- 


THE   CHURCH    OF   CHRIST.  299 

ished  them  altogether  from  the  shelves  of  the  learned.  It  has  been 
stated,  that  in  the  ecumenical  councils  of  Ephesus  in  431,  and  of 
Chalcedon  in  451,  many  of  the  bishops  were  not  able  to  sign  tlieir 
names,  in  the  beginning  oi"  the  eighth  century.  Fiance  iiad  arrived 
at  its  lowest  point  in  the  declension  of  literature  ;  but  the  genius  of 
Charlemagne  revived  a  spirit  of  mental  improvement  at  its  close, 
and  the  national  taste  was  gradually  improved  from  that  period.  It 
was  not  until  France  had  been  lesuscitated,  that  England  experi- 
enced the  first  nn[)ulse  in  the  cultivation  of  science.  Italy,  how- 
ever, continued  to  retrograde,  and  at  the  close  of  the  tenth  century 
theie  was  scarcely  to  be  found  in  the  capital  an  individual  advanced 
beyond  the  rudiments  of  a  plain  education.  "-lam  not  aware," 
says,  Hallam,  "that  there  appeared  more  than  two  really  consid- 
erable men  m  the  republic  of  letters,  from  the  sixth  to  the  middle 
of  the  eh^venth  century." 

\^  ith  these  I'acts,  our  astonisiiment  will  cease  when  we  discover 
so  few  certain  traces  in  the  general  history  of  the  Chuich,  of  a 
body  or  society  of  Chiistians,  secluded  from  the  world,  as  were 
the  nihabitants  of  Piedmont.  It  was  not  before  the  beguming  of 
the  twelfth  century,  that  these  dissenters  from  the  church  of  Rome 
attracterl  the  attention  of  Europe ;  and  more  than  a  century  after, 
that  their  peculiar  religious  tenets  were  understood.  We  sliall  be 
less  surprised  at  this,  when  we  recall  to  mind,  that  even  at  this  pe- 
riod (the  fifteenth  century)  the  duke  of  Savoy,  and  the  king  of 
France,  seem  not  to  have  known  the  character  of  the  sectaries 
within  their  respective  dominions.  Notwithstanding  the  series  of 
persecutions,  for  the  three  or  four  centuries  preceding  the  sixteenth, 
there  appears  to  have  been  an  ignorance  generally  prevailing,  of  the 
true  state  of  these  dissenters,  when  the  controversy  arose  between 
the  Roman  pontiff  and  Luther.  "  It  appears,"  says  Jones,  "from 
what  Voliaire  has  \vritten,  and  indeed,  an  attentive  reader  of  the 
works  of  Luther  and  his  associates,  will  easily  perceive,  that  their 
minds  labored  under  a  somewhat  similar  mistake  as  to  their  own 
case.  It  was  not  without  surprise  they  learnt,  that  there  were  num- 
bers around  them,  in  every  country,  opposed  to  the  corruptions  of 
the  church  of  Rome,  and  sighing  in  secret  for  a  reform.  It  may 
also  be  added,  that  Protestants  in  every  succeeding  age  have  but 
too  im[ilK;ifly  imbibed  their  error."  Luther  in  his  correspondence 
with  the  United  Bietliren  in  1522,  which  has  been  already  alluded 
to,  admits  that  their  name  had  been  odious  to  him.  Lefevre,  Zwin- 
gle,  and  Luther,  were  severally  engaged  in  the  great  work  of  the 
Reformation,  without  any  intercommunication,  or  concert,  for  some 
time  after  they  had  commenced. 

For  the  most  satisfactory  information  then,  as  to  the  antiquity  of 
the  Vaudois,  our  knowledge  would  be  more  safely  derived  from 
their  own  statements  and  records,  than  from  any  other  source. 
*'  They  aver,"  says  Reinerius,  "  their  existence  from  the  time  of 


309  THE    CHURCH   OF   CHRIST. 

Sylvester;  others  of  tliem,  from  the  very  time  of  the  apostles."" 
''  Those  very  persons,"  says  Sismoiidi,  '■^  who  punished  these  sec- 
taries witli  friglitful  torments,  have  alone  taken  it  upon  tlicmselves 
to  make  us  acquainted  with  their  opinions;  allowing  at  the  same 
time,  that  they  had  been  transmitted  in  Gaul,  iiom  generation  to 
generation,  almost  from  the  origin  of  Christianity."  As  tins  claim 
to  antiquity  has  been  generally  conceded,  we  shall  now  refer  to  the, 
doctrines  by  which  they  have,  contemporaneously  with  the  early 
corruption  of  the  Christian  Church  by  the  Roman  hieiarchy,  been 
distinguished,  as  a  distinct  and  separate  body  of  Christians.  View- 
ing them  as  the  true  Cluirch  of  Christ,  which  existed  through  suc- 
cessive ages  from  the  days  of  the  apostles  to  the  present  time;  it  is 
a  subject  of  instructive  inquiry,  what  were  the  doctiines  they 
maintained  from  the  earliest  period  of  which  we  liave  any  authen- 
tic lecoid  .'' 

There  are  then  unquestionable  records  of  the  purity  of  their 
morals,  and  the  spirituality  of  their  faith  as  far  back  as  the  year 
1100,  or  more  than  four  hundred  years  before  the  days  of  Luther. 
From  their  "Confession  of  Faith,"  or  summary  of  doctrines,  it  ap- 
pears that,  at  this  early  period,  they  were  less  tainted  by  the  er- 
rors of  popery  tlian  Luther  was. 

An  ancient  poem,  written  in  the  Provencal  language,  entitled 
"La  JV'oWe  Loigon^''''  thus  delineates  the  character  of  the  Vaudois  : 
"  VV  hosoever  refuses  to  curse,  to  swear,  to  lie,  to  kill,  to  commit 
adultery,  to  steal,  to  be  revenged  of  his  enemy,  they  say  he  is  a 
Vaudois,  and  therefore  they  put  him  to  death."  ^ 

In  the  manuscript  chronicle  of  the  Abbey  of  Corvey,  written 
about  the  beginning  of  the  twelfth  century,  the  inhabitants  of  the 
Alps  and  the  neighboring  regions,  who  were  descended  from  an 
ancient  race,  (homines  sedncti  ub  anliqua  progenie  simplicium  liomi- 
num,)  are  described  as  a  people  from  Bavaiia,  &c.,  "  w  ho  have  de- 
sired to  abase  our  (the  papal)  religion,  and  tlie  faith  of  all  Chris- 
tians of  the  Latin  church;  who  commit  to  memory  the  sacred 
Scriptures,  and  who  reject  the  rites  of  the  (Romisli)  church,  which 
they  tielieve  to  be  new.  They  refuse,  says  the  chronicle,  to  wor- 
ship images;  despise  the  relics  of  the  saints;  live  on  vegetables; 
they  seldom  eat  flesh,  some  of  them,  never."  Some  of  the  people, 
whon  t!ie  chronicle  entitles  Manicha;aiis,  are  said  to  have  come 
from  Hungary.  These  were  undoubtedly  Vaudois,  and  descend- 
ants of  the  Paulicians. 

'  Qiie  rion  vollia  maiidire,  ni  jura,  ni  mentir, 
IS'i  avoiitrar,  iii  niicire,  rii  peiire  de  I'autruy, 
Ni  Vfiij  ir  so  <l(!  li  sio  mnuinio, 
Illi  (lisuri  quel  cs  Vaiidos,  e  liegne  de  murir. 
Tlie  following  distich  in  llie  poem  points  out  its  date — 

"  Klcvcn  linndrcd  years  are  now  goni;  and  pnst, 
Since  thus  it  was  wrillen— these  limes  are  the  last." 
An  original  manuscript  of  this  poem  is  in  the  public  library  of  Cambridge,  (Eng.) 


THE    CHURCH   OF   CHRIST.  30! 

But  we  have  their  own  "  Confession  of  Faith""  recorded  as  early 
as  the  year  1120;  and  this  corresponds  with  a  remarkable  exact- 
ness, with  the  statements  previously  drawn  up  by  their  enemies. 
From  which  it  will  appear  that  the  distinguished  German  Reform- 
er of  the  sixleenlh  century,  was  much  less  spiritually  enlightened 
than  the  Alfiine  Protestants  of  the  twclfdi.  This  summary  of  their 
faith  contains  fourteen  articles,  which  seem  to  comprise  all  that  is 
necessary  to  salvation;  and  in  a  Scriptural  view,  pei'fectly  in  ac- 
cordance with  ilie  word  of  God,  and  orthodox. 

1st.  VV^e  believe  and  firmly  maintain  all  that  is  contained  in  the 
twelve  articles  of  the  symbol,  commonly  called  the  apostle's  creed, 
and  we  regard  as  heretical  whatever  is  inconsistent  vvilh  the  said 
twelve  articles. 

2d.  We  believe  that  there  is  one  God,  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Spirit. 

od.  We  acknowledge  for  sacred  canonical  Scriptures,  the  Books 
of  the  Holy  Bible.  (Here  follows,  says  Jones,  the  title  of  each, 
exactly  conformable  to  our  canon.) 

4th.  The  Books  above-mentioned  teach  us:  That  there  is  one 
God,  Almighty,  unbounded  in  wisdom,  and  infinite  in  goodness,  and 
who,  in  his  goodness,  has  made  all  things.  For  he  created  Adam 
after  his  own  image  and  likeness.  But  through  the  enmity  of  the 
devil,  and  his  own  disobedience,  Adam  fell,  sin  entered  into  the 
world,  and  we  became  transgressors  in  and  by  Adam. 

5lh.  That  Christ  had  been  promised  to  the  fathers  who  received 
the  law,  to  the  end  that  knowing  their  sin  by  the  law,  and  their 
unrighteousness  and  insufficiency,  they  might  desire  the  coming  of 
Christ  to  make  satisfaction  for  their  sins,  and  to  accomplish  the  law 
by  himself. 

6th.  That  at  the  time  appointed  of  the  Father,  Christ  was  born; 
a  time  when  iniquity  every  where  abounded,  to  make  it  manifest, 
that  it  was  not  for  the  sake  of  any  good  in  ourselves,  for  all  were 
sinners,  but  that  He,  who  is  true,  might  display  his  grace  and  mer- 
cy towards  us. 

7th.  That  Christ  is  our  life,  and  truth,  and  peace,  and  righteous- 
ness; our  shepherd  and  advocate,  our  sacrifice,  and  priest,  uho 
died  for  the  salvation  of  all  who  should  believe,  and  rose  again  for 
their  justification. 

Stii.  And  we  also  firmly  believe  that  there  is  no  other  Mediator, 
or  Advocate  with  God  the  Father,  but  Jesus  Clirisf.  And  as  to 
the  Virgin  Mary,  she  was  holy,  humlilc,  and  full  of  grace ;  and 
this  we  also  believe  concerning  all  other  saints,  namely,  that  they 
are  waiting  in  heaven  for  the  resurrection  of  tln.'ir  bodies  at  the 
day  of  judgnn'iit. 

9ih.  We  also  believe,  that  after  this  life,  there  are  but  two 
places;  one  for  tho-^c  that  are  saved,  the  other  for  the  damned, 
which  (two)  we  call  paradi.se  and  hell,  wholly  denying  that  imagi- 


302  THE    CHURCH    OF   CHRIST. 

nary  purgatory  of  anti-Christ,  invented  in  opposition  to  the  truth, 

10th.  Moreover,  we  have  ever  regarded  all  the  inventions  of 
men,  (in  the  aiiairs  of  religion,)  as  an  unspeakable  abomination  be- 
fore God ;  such  as  the  festival  days  and  vigils  of  saints,  and  what 
is  called  holy-water,  the  abstaining  from  flesh  on  certain  days,  and 
such  like  things,  but  above  all,  the  masses. 

11th.  We  hold  in  abhorrence  all  liuman  inventions,  as  proceed- 
ing from  anti-Christ,  which  produce  distress,  and  are  prejudicial  to 
the  liberty  of  the  mind. 

12th.  We  consider  the  sacraments  as  signs  of  holy  things,  or  as 
the  visible  emblems  of  invisible  blessings.  Vv'e  regard  it  as  proper 
and  even  necessary,  that  believers  use  these  symbols  or  visible  forms 
when  it  can  be  done.  Notwithstanding  which,  we  maintain  that 
believers  may  be  saved  without  these  signs,  when  they  have  neither 
place  nor  opportunity  of  observing  them. 

13th.  We  acknowledge  no  sacraments  (as  of  divine  appointment) 
but  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

14tb.  We  honor  the  secular  powers  with  subjection,  obedience, 
promptitude  and  payment. 

"  The  Centuriators  of  Magdeburg,  in  their  History  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church,  under  the  twell^th  century,  recite  from  an  old  manu- 
script, the  following  epitome  of  the  Waldenses  of  that  age."  (Jones.) 

1st.  In  articles  of  faith  the  authority  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  is 
the  highest;  and  for  that  reason  it  is  the  standard  of  judging;  so 
that  whatsoever  doth  not  agree  with  the  word  of  God,  is  deseived- 
ly  to  be  rejected  and  avoided. 

2d.  The  decrees  of  fathers  and  councils  are  (only)  so  far  to  be 
approved  as  tiiey  agree  with  the  Word  of  God. 

3d.  The  reading  and  knowledge  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  is  open 
to,  and  is  necessary  for  all  men,  the  laity  as  well  as  the  clergy  ;  and 
moreover,  the  writings  of  the  prophets  and  apostles  arc  to  be  read 
rather  than  the  comments  of  men. 

4th.  The  sacraments  of  the  Church  of  Christ  are  two,  Baptism 
and  the  Lord's  Supper  ;  and  the  latter,  Christ  has  instituted  the  re- 
ceiving in  botli  kinds,  both  for  priests  and  people. 

5th.  Masses  are  impious ;  and  it  is  madness  to  say  masses  for 
the  dead. 

Gth.  Purgatory  is  the  invention  of  men;  for  they  who  believe  go 
into  eternal  life;  they  who  believe  not,  into  eternal  damnation. 

7th.  The  invoking  and  worshipping  of  dead  saints  is  idolatry. 

8th.  The  church  of  Rome  is  the  whore  of  Babylon. 

9th.  We  must  not  obey  the  pope  and  bishops,'  because  they  are 
the  wolves  of  the  Churcli  of  Christ. 

'  Their  ministers  or  pastors,  were  entitled  bishops,  as  that  word  is  used  in  the 
Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament.  Reincriiis  says,  "  I.om!)ardinii  intrantcs,  viisilant 
Episcopos  suoR."  Thoy  abhored  the  very  title  of  a  diocesan  bishop,  as  a  mere  in- 
vention of  popery. 


THE   CHURCH   OF   CHRIST.  303 

10th.  The  pope  hath  not  the  primacy  over  all  the  churches  of 
Christ;  neither  iiath  he  the  power  of  both  swoids. 

lllh.  That  is  the  Church  of  Christ,  which  hears  the  pure  doc- 
trine of  Christ,  and  observes  the  ordinances  instituted  by  hiui,  in 
whatsoever  place  it  exists. 

J  2th.  Vows  of  celibacy  are  the  inventions  of  men,  and  produc- 
tive of  uncleanness. 

loth.  8o  many  orders  of  the  clergy,  so  many  marks  of  the 
beast. 

14th.  Monkery  is  a  filtiiy  carcass. 

15th.  So  many  superstitious  dedications  of  churches,  commem- 
orations of  the  dead,  benedictions  of  creatures,  pilgrimages,  so 
many  foi'ced  fastings,  so  many  superfluous  festivals,  iliose  perpetu- 
al bellowmgs,  (alluding  to  the  practice  of  chanting,)  and  the  obser- 
vations of  various  other  ceremonies,  manifestly  obstructing  the 
teaclnng  and  learning  of  the  Word,  are  diabolical  inventions. 

16th.  The  marriage  of  priests  is  both  lawful  and  necessary. 

The  government  and  ordinances  of  the  Vaudois  churches  appear 
to  have  been  modeled  after  the  simple  forms  of  the  Christian 
Church  in  the  days  of  the  apostles.  "They  deny,"  says  ^^neas 
Sylvius,  "  the  hieiarchy,  maintaining  that  there  is  no  difference 
among  priests  by  reason  of  dignity  of  oIHce,"  John  Paul  Fernn, 
one  of  tlieir  barbs  or  pastors,  in  his  Hist,  des  Vaudois,  says,  "  All 
they  that  are  to  be  received  as  pastors  among  us,  whilst  they  are 
yet  with  their  own  people,  are  to  entreat  ours,  that  they  would  be 
pleased  to  receive  them  to  the  ministry ;  and  to  pray  to  God  that 
they  may  be  made  worthy  of  so  great  an  otlice.  We  also  appoint 
them  their  lectures,  and  set  them  their  tasks,  causing  them  to  learn 
by  memory  all  the  chapters  of  St.  Matthew  and  St.  John,  and  all 
the  epistles  that  are  canonical,  and  a  good  part  of  the  writings  of 
Solomon,  David,  and  the  prophets.  Afterward,  having  produced 
good  testimonials,  and  being  well  approved  for  their  sutficiency, 
they  are  received  with  imposition  of  hands  into  the  office  of  teach- 
ers." They  had  annual  assemblies,  which  were  called  synods, 
composed  of  pastors,  who  determined  on  the  general  allairs  of  the 
churches-,  examined  students,  and  admitted  thcrn  to  the  ministry. 
The  doctrine  of  ministerial  parity  by  divine  right  was  maintained 
by  thein,as  it  was  by  the  Bohemian  reformers.  This  had  been  also 
inculcated  by  VVicklilfe,  whose  religious  tenets  were  similar  to 
those  of  the  Vaudois.  "  One  thing  I  boldly  assert,"  said  this  Eng- 
lish reformer,  "that  in  the  primitive  church,  or  in  the  time  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  two  orders  of  the  clergy  were  thought  sullicient, 
priest,  and  deacon;  and  I  do  also  say,  that  in  the  time  of  Paul,  a 
priest  and  a  bishop  were  one  and  the  same."  yEneas  Sylvius, 
speaking  of  the  Hussites,  says,  "One  of  the  dogmas  of  this  pes- 
tiferous sect,  is,  that  there  is  no  diiference  of  order  among  those 
who  bear  the  priestly  office."  This  feature  of  church  government, 
was  undoubtedly  one  of  the  marked  and  prominent  characteristics, 


304  THE    CHURCH    OF    CHRIST. 

which  distinguished  all  the  Cliristian  churches,  before  ihe  sixteenth 
century,  from  tlie  Uomish  church.  Medina,  in  the  council  of  Trent, 
declared  that  "the  \\'aldenses,  on  tiiis  subject,  were  of  the  same 
mind  with  Aerius."  As  respects  the  office  of  ruling  or  h^y  elders, 
it  seems  to  he  a  controverted  point,  whether  any  such  existed  in 
the  churches  of  the  Vaudois.  GiUis,  who  was  a  WaUlensian  pas- 
tor, has  been  referred  to  as  aulfiority  to  establish  the  affirmative. 
Other  writers  have  doubted  whether  the  elders  mentioned  were  not 
the  pastors  and  teachers,  and  tlie  difficulty  seems  to  have  arisen 
from  the  general  admission,  that  this  term  was  so  applied  in  the 
Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament.  The  celebrated  Tiudal,  the 
translator  of  the  first  English  bible,  says,  "  The  apostles,  following 
and  obeying  the  rule,  doctrine,  and  commandment  of  our  Savior,, 
ordained  in  his  kingdom  and  congregation,  two  officers,  one  called 
after  the  Greek  word,  bishop ;  in  English,  an  overseer,  which  same 
was  called  priest,  after  the  Greek.  Another  officer  they  chose,  and 
called  him,  deacon,  after  the  Greek;  in  English, a  minister  to  min- 
ister alms  to  the  poor.  All  that  were  called  elders  (or  priests,  if 
they  so  will)  were  called  bishops  also,  though  they  have  now  divi- 
ded the  names."  In  the  primitive  or  apostolic  times,  the  elder 
who  was  intrusted  with  the  pastoral  charge  of  a  cLurch,  was  by 
distinction,  and  in  designation  of  his  a[)propriate  duty  as  over.seer, 
entitled  episcopos,  or  bisho[).  In  our  day,  a  presbyter  without 
such  a  pastotal  ctiarge,  is  not  considered  a  bishop.  And  this  dis- 
tinction is  said  to  have  been  established  in  the  churches  of  the  Vau- 
dois, and  probably  of  the  Bohemians.  Their  spiritual  teachers 
were  called  elders,  but  distinguished  as  bishops  when,  they  became 
pastors. 

But  admitting  that  there  did  exist  such  an  order  as  lay-elders,  irv 
the  churches  of  the  Vaudois,  and  of  the  United  Brethren,  the  in- 
stitution, although  strictly  speaking,  not  of  divine  aj)pO'intmenl,  as 
those  of  presbyter  and  deacon,  doubtless  arose  from  the  necessity 
of  the  case,  and  subserved  the  purposes  of  their  ecclesiastical  gov- 
ernment wh'cb  suggested  its  expediency.  We  know  that  among 
the  reformers  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  opinion  was  generally 
entertained,'  "  That  Jesus  Christ  had  left  upon  record  no  express 
injunctions  uith  respect  to  the  external  form  of  government  that  is 
to  be  observed  in  his  Church;  and  consequently,  that  every  nation 
has  a  right  to  establish  sucii  a  form,  as  might  seem  conducive  to 
the  interests,  and  suitable  to  the  peculiar  state,  circumstances,  and 
exigences  of  the  community,  provided  that  such  an  establishment 
be  in  no  lespect  prejudicial  to  truth,  or  favorable  to  the  revival  of 
superstition."  It  w\ns  upon  this  principle,  that  Luther  admitted  in- 
to his  system  of  church  government  an  imparity  m  the  rank  of 

'  Tliis  ivns  tiot  n^spnifvl  to  tiy  llio  Fnplipl)  rhrsy-  TIip}'  ndliPtpd  with  riffiff  fon- 
acily  to  iii;iiiy  of  llie  siipi'islilions  liltf!  mid  (■(ircmotiios  oi  tliu  Kdinisli  cliiiicli;  uiid 
CKiiliI  lint  <livrst  llicnisclvcs  of  tliuir  jiri'judiccs  in  liivur  of  the  diviiiu  rijjlil  ot  pruld- 
cy,  nor  iiave  tliey  yet  dune  this. 


THE    CHURCH   OF   CHRIST.  305 

ministers ;  and  that  Knox  proposed  "  the  estahlishment  of  ten  su- 
perintendents, (in  his  organization  of  the  Reformed  Ciiurch  of  Scot- 
land,) to  inspect  the  life  and  doctrine  of  the  other  clergy,  and  to 
preside  in  the  inferior  judicatories  of  the  Church ;  not  deeming  it 
expedient  to  depart  altogether  from  the  ancient  form." 

Tiie  next  ollice  after  that  of  the  preshyters,  (distinguished  as 
bishops  and  elders,)  was  that  of  the  deacons.  These  attended  to 
the  temporal  interests  of  their  respective  churches.  It  is  certain, 
that  among  the  Vaudois,  "  tlie  ministry  of  the  word"  made  no  part 
of  the  duties  of  that  office.  The  functions  prescribed  to  tiiem  were 
strictly  in  accordance  with  the  purposes  for  which,  as  declared  by 
the  apostles  themselves,  that  oflice  was  instituted,  to  attend  to  the 
poor  by  daily  ministration;  leaving  the  word  of  God,  and  serving 
tables,^  or  attending  to  the  pecuniary  affairs  of  the  Church. 

It  has  been  a  subject  of  controversy  among  the  writers  who  have 
searched  into  the  ancient  practices  of  the  Vaudois  churches,  wheth- 
er the  rite  of  baptism  was  administered  to  infants.  In  the  confes- 
sions of  faith,  which  have  been  inserted,  there  is  no  direct  allusion 
lo  this  subject.  The  question  has  been  discussed  with  unreasonable 
prejudices  on  both  sides.  Reinerius,  who  wrote  in  the  middle  of 
the  thirteentli  century,  has  been  quoted  as  an  authority  to  prove, 
that,  at  that  period,  "  they  were  of  ditl'erent  opinions  on  this 
point."  One  of  their  ancient  writings,  entitled  the  Spiritual  Calen- 
dar^ has  been  referred  to  as  sanctioning  the  belief  that  they  were 
Pedobaptists.  Miller,  who  maintains  the  affirmative,  with  much 
zeal  and  by  laborious  researches,  says  "  In  their  confessions  of 
faith,  and  other  writings,  drawn  up  between  the  twelfth  and  six- 
teenth centuries,  and  in  which  they  represent  their  creeds  and 
usages  as  handed  down  from  father  to  son,  for  several  hundred 
years  before  the  Reformation,  they  speak  on  the  subject  before  us 
so  frequently  and  explicitly,  as  to  preclude  all  doubt  in  regard  to 
the  fact  alledged;"  and  refers  to  Perrin,  to  Moreland,  and  to  Le- 
ger,  to  substantiate  his  position.  Dr.  Murdock,  who  has  also  writ- 
ten on  this  subject,  maintains,  that  the  followers  of  Peter  Waldo, 
"  practised  infant  baptism."  On  the  other  hand,  Dr.  Gill,  who  de- 
fended the  negative,  affirms,  that  "Their  early  writings,  from  the 
'Noble  Lesson,'  in  1100,  down  to  their  'Confession  of  Faith,'  in 
1655,  are  in  favor  of  the  baptism  of  believers  only."  Peter  de 
Bruis,  whom  the  VValdenses  claimed  as  one  of  their  most  distin- 
guished pastors,  or  barbs,  and  who  preached  the  doctrines  of  the 
Reformation,  in  Languedoc  and  Provence,  from  1110  to  1130,  was 

'In  the  oriijinal  Trapczcds,  Tables  for  oatiiij  on,  or  tlie  counters  of  a  money  clianger, 
&c.  Tliis  word  signifies  in  Matthew,  the  tables  of  llio  money  changers.  In  which 
we  also  find  Trapezilais,  Exchangers  of  money.  It  is  evident,  tliat,  in  tlie  primitive 
church,  the  deacons  were  secular  officers,  wiio  received  and  disbursed  money,  minis- 
tered to  the  members  in  want,  took  charge  of  tlie  properly  of  the  Church,  and  super- 
intended generally  its  temporal  aff.iirs,  &c.  Philip,  who  was  appointed  deacon,  (Acts 
vi.  6,)  preached  as  an  Evangelist,  (Acts  xxi.  8.) 

20 


306  THE    CHURCH    OF   CHRIST. 

strongly  opposed  to  the  administration  of  the  ordinance  of  baptism 
"  to  persons  before  they  had  the  full  use  of  their  reason."  In  his 
celebrated  treatise  concerning  anti-Christ,  purgatory,  invocation  of 
saints,  and  the  sacraments,  bearing  date  A.  D.  1 120,  he  charges  the 
church  of  Rome,  "  with  teaching  to  baptize  children  into  the  faith, 
and  attributing  to  this  the  work  of  regeneration,  thus  confounding 
the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  regeneration,  with  the  external  rite 
of  baptism ;  and  on  this  foundation  bestowing  orders,  and  indeed, 
grounding  all  its  Christianity." 

Such  appears  to  be  the  diversity  of  opinions,  and  so  conUadic- 
tory  are  the  evidences  on  a  subject,  which  it  is  probable,  will  never 
be  satisfactorily  determined.  It  is  admitted  that,  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  since,  the  Waldenses  were  also  divided  among  them- 
selves, some  of  them  uniting  with  other  religious  denominations, 
adopted  their  several  usages,  ordinances,  and  creeds.  The  prac- 
tice of  any  of  their  churches,  since  the  termination  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  can  furnish  no  conclusive  evidence  of  the  ancient  doctrines 
of  the  Vaudois,  which  is  the  only  object  of  our  present  inquiry. 

^neas  Sylvius,  who  lived  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and  who,  be- 
fore his  elevation  to  the  papal  chair,  visited  the  Bohemians  and  the 
valleys  of  Piedmont,  has  given  a  very  circumstantial  account  of 
those  sectaries.  In  the  quotations  from  his  writings,  by  Jones,  he 
thus  speaks  of  the  Waldenses  of  Bohemia — "  They  condemn  all 
the  sacraments  of  the  Church.  Concerning  the  sacrament  of  bap- 
tism they  say,  that  the  catechism  signifies  nothing,  that  the  absolu- 
tion pronounced  over  infants  avails  them  nothing,  that  the  godfathers 
and  godmothers  do  not  understand  w^hat  they  answer  the  priest." 
Which  would  seem  to  be  conclusive,  that  the  United  Brethren,  al 
that  time,  were  anti-Pedobaptists,  so  far  as  the  testimony  of  that 
writer  can  be  received  with  faith. 

Reinerius  Saccho,  who  had  apostatized  from  the  Waldensian 
faith,  and  became  afterward  one  of  the  most  cruel  persecutors  of 
that  sect,  resided  in  Lombardy  in  the  character  of  a  popish  inquisi- 
tor; and  in  1250,  published  a  catalogue  of  what  he  termed  "  The 
errors  of  the  Waldenses."  In  the  extracts  from  his  writings  by 
Dr.  AUix,  and  quoted  by  Jones,  he  remarks  "  They  (the  Walden- 
ses) say,  that  a  man  is  then  first  baptized  when  he  is  received  into 
their  community.  Some  of  them  hold  that  baptism  is  of  no  advan- 
tage to  infants^  because  they  cannot  actually  believe.  They  reject  the 
sacrament  of  confirmation,  but  instead  of  that,  their  teachers  lay  their 
hands  vpOn  their  disciples.''''  ^  This  statement  proves  beyond  a 
doubt,  that  some  of  the  Waldensian  churches  observed  the  ordin- 
ance of  infant  baptism ;  and  this  at  a  period  preceding  the  days  of 

'Ecclrsiastical  confirmntion  is  a  rite  wliereby  a  person,  arrived  at  years  of  discre- 
lion,  undertakes  tlio  pcrforiDance  of  every  part  of  llie  baptismal  vow  made  for  him 
by  liis  godfathers  and  p;odniolhers.  It  is  administered  only  by  bishops;  and  is  de- 
clared by  the  council  of  Trent  to  be,  "  properly  and  truly  a  aacranient ;  and  whoso- 
ever holds  otherwise  is  accursed.'' 


THE    CHURCH    OF   CHRIST.  307 

Luther  nearly  three  hundred  years.  In  addition  to  the  express  de- 
claration, that  "  Some  of  them  hold  that  haptism  is  of  no  advan- 
tage to  infants,"  which  leaves  the  inference  that  infant  baptism  was 
a  rite  generally  observed  by  the  churches,  we  are  informed  that  the 
sacrament  (so  the  popish  church  has  declared  it)  of  confirmation 
was  rejected.  This  was  but  in  accordance  with  the  thirteenth  ar- 
ticle of  their  confession  of  faith  •,  which  dates  back  to  the  year 
1120.  This  corroborating  circumstance  gives  to  the  supposition — 
that  this  rite  bears  an  antiquity  equal  with  that  of  "  the  confes- 
sion," at  least  a  high  degree  of  plausibility,  and  sanctions  the 
opinion,  that  the  observance  of  this  ordinance  was  practised,  from 
the  most  ancient  times,  by  the  churches  of  the  Vaudois.  And  here 
we  shall  leave  the  unsettled  question  of  its  antiquity. 

The  formulary  which  embodies  the  religious  opinions  of  the 
Vaudois,  and  bearing  date  from  the  year  1 1 20,  is  the  most  ancient 
symbol  of  orthodox  faith,  as  received  and  acknowledged  by  an  en- 
tire society  of  Christians,  or  Church,  of  which  we  have  any  au- 
thentic record.  Drawn  up  more  than  four  hundred  years  before 
Luther  posted  up  at  the  door  of  the  church  of  Wittemberg,  his 
celebrated  propositions  against  the  abuses  of  the  Romish  hierarchy, 
how  much  purer  in  doctrine,  how  much  more  evangelical  in  spirit 
is  that  simple  and  comprehensive  creed  than  the  cautious  and  com- 
promising thesis  of  the  German  Reformer. 

"  The  pope  has  no  power  or  intention,'^''  said  Luther,  in  his  5th 
proposition,  "  to  remit  any  other  penalty  than  that  which  he  has 
imposed,  according  to  his  good  pleasure,  or  conformably  to  the 
canons,  that  is  to  say,  the  papal  ordinances."  In  his  6th,  "  The 
pope  cannot  remit  any  condemnation;  but  can  only  declare  and 
confirm  the  remission  that  God  himself  has  given ;  except  only  in 
cases  that  belong  to  him.  If  he  does  otherwise,  the  condemnation 
continues  the  same." 

25th.  "  The  same  power  that  the  pope  has  over  purgatory  in  the 
Church  at  large,  is  possessed  by  every  bishop  in  his  diocese,  and 
every  curate  in  his  parish." 

38th.  "  Yet  we  must  not  despise  tlie  pope's  distributive  and  par- 
doning power, /or  his  pardon  is  a  declaration  of  God's  pardon.''' 

49th.  "  We  must  teach  Christians,  that  the  pope's  indulgence  is 
good,  if  we  do  not  put  our  trust  in  it;  but  that  nothing  can  be  more 
hurtful,  if  it  leads  us  to  neglect  piety." 

50th.  "  We  must  teach  Christians,  tliat  if  "the  pope  knew  the  ex- 
actions of  the  preachers  of  indulgences,  lie  would  rather  that  the 
metropolitan  church  of  St.  Peter  were  burnt  to  ashes,  than  see  it 
built  up  with  the  skin,  the  flesh,  and  bones  of  his  flock."  (.'') 

51st.  "We  must  teach  Christians,  that  the  pope,  as  in  duty 
bound,  would  willingly  give  his  own  money  (though  it  should  be 
necessary  to  sell  the  metropolitan  church  of  St.  Peter  for  the  pur- 
pose,) to  poor  people,  whom  the  preachers  of  indulgence  now  rob 
of  their  last  penny."  (.'') 


308  THE    CHURCH   OF   CHRIST. 

67th.  "  It  is  the  duty  of  bishops  and  pastors  to  receive  with  all 
respect  the  commissioners  of  the  apostolic  indulgences." 

7 1  St.  "Cursed  be  whosoever  speaks  against  the  pope's  indulgence." 

81st.  "  This  shameless  preaching,  these  impudent  praises  of  in- 
dulgences, make  it  ditiicult  for  the  learned  to  defend  the  dignity 
and  honor  of  the  pope  against  the  calumnies  of  preachers,  and  the 
subtle  and  artful  questions  of  the  common  people." 

With  truth  has  it  been  remarked  by  Jones,  that  "  The  Reform- 
ers, with  all  their  zeal  and  learning,  were  babes  in  spiritual  know- 
ledge, when  compared  with  the  more  illiterate  Waldenses,  particu- 
larly in  regard  to  the  nature  of  the  kingdom  of  Christ,  and  its  in- 
stitutions, laws,  and  worship  in  general."  Luther  was  four  centu- 
ries behind  that  epoch  of  the  Vaudois  church,  in  which  the  "con- 
fession of  its  faith"  was  adopted  as  the  platform  of  its  Christian 
doctrines. 

We  have  no  data  in  history,  by  which  any  computation  can  be 
made,  with  even  an  apparent  approximation  to  the  truth,  of  the 
number  of  those  who  professed  the  faith  of  the  Vaudois  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century.  "  There  was  at  this  time  (1484) 
on  the  southern  declivities  of  the  Alps  of  Dauphiny  and  along  the 
banks  of  the  Durance,"  says  D'Aubigne,  "  an  after-growth  of  the 
ancient  Vaudois  opinions.  The  roots  were  continually  putting  forth 
fresh  shoots  in  all  directions.  Bold  men  were  heard  to  designate 
the  church  of  Rome,  the  church  of  evil  spirits,  and  to  maintain 
that  it  was  quite  as  profitable  to  pray  in  a  stable  as  in  a  church." 
About  the  period  when  Luther  commenced  his  opposition  to  the 
sale  of  indulgences,  it  is  stated  by  George  Morel,  who  was  then 
one  of  the  pastors  of  the  Waldenses,  there  were  eight  hundred 
thousand  persons  professing  the  religion  of  the  Vaudois.^  This 
number  would  appear  to  be  an  incredible  amount,  but  for  the  un- 
fjuestionable  testimony  by  which  the  statement  is  authenticated, 
particularly  when  we  call  to  recollection,  the  cruel  and  desolating 
persecution  to  which  they  had  been  exposed  from  the  year  1487 
to  that  period,  and  the  utter  despondency  into  which  they  had  been 
driven  by  the  relentless  and  exterminating  warfare  carried  on 
against  them  by  the  popish  armies. 

What  numbers  have  been  slain  by  the  sword,  the  gibbet,  and  the 
tiames,  can  never  be  known,  until  "  the  earth  shall  disclose  her 
blood,  and  shall  no  more  cover  her  slain."  More  than  a  million  of 
them  are  supposed  to  have  perished  in  the  southern  provinces  of 
France.  Who  can  comjnite  the  millions  of  papists  and  Waldenses, 
slaughtered  in  the  wars  which  were  instigated  by  the  popes,  for 
liundreds  of  years,  for  the  extermination  of  those  who  would  not 
bow  the  knee  to  the  image  of  Baal.'' 

'"Recently  (19th  century)  the  valleys  of  Piedmont  have  been  visited  by  some 
j;ious  and  benevolent  individuals  ;  and  the  number  ol"  the  Vaudois  has  been  taken  at 
nineteen  thousand  seven  hundred  and  ten,  besides  about  fifty  fannlies  residing  at  Tu- 
rin, in  all  twenty  thousand."   (Ency.  of  Relig.  Kmiwl.) 


APPENDIX 


The  genius  and  spirit  of  popery  are  fully  exhibited  in  the  laws 
and  universally  received  maxims  of  the  court  of  Rome.  History 
may  be  charged  with  misrepresentation  ;  but  the  plain  and  intelli- 
gible language  of  the  Church  itself,  speaking  through  its  accredited 
and  acknowledged  authorities,  presents  the  most  faithful  delineation 
of  its  true  character.  In  the  progress  of  this  history  we  have 
traced  through  successive  ages,  the  advance  of  the  papacy  to  uni- 
versal dominion,  its  ambitious  pretensions,  its  usurpations  and 
tyranny.  Has  that  history,  compiled  from  the  most  authentic  sour- 
ces, given  a  false  and  exaggerated  representation  of  that  spiritual 
power  which  assumed  and  once  exercised  an  entire  control  over  the 
religious  liberties  and  consciences  of  men.''  Has  it  imputed  to  that 
power,  doctrines  which  it  never  maintained,  acts  which  it  never 
sanctioned,  cruelties  which  its  tenets  and  principles  abhor.''  Theu 
let  the  papal  court  of  Rome,  substantiate  the  verity  of  the  charges 
deduced  from  its  acts,  by  its  own  decretals  and  enactments. 

I  shall  close  this  work  by  presenting  to  the  reader  a  short  sum- 
mary of  laws,  particularly  in  relation  to  the  offense  of  heresy,  en- 
acted by  the  court  of  Rome  at  different  periods,  and  still  remaining 
unrepealed,  upon  the  statute  rolls  of  the  Vatican.  The  extracts 
have  been  taken  from  the  work  of  "William  McGavin,  entitled  the 
Protestant.  The  statement  was  drawn  up  from  the  most  authentic 
documents,  by  that  able  and  judicious  writer,  and  commands  our 
unhesitating  confidence  in  its  correctness. 

That  the  import  of  the  term  heresy  may  be  understood,  as  re- 
ceived by  the  Romish  church,  I  will  insert  the  declaration  of  pope 
Honorius  III.,  contained  in  the  318th  page  of  the  Directorium  In- 
quisitorum.  Protestant,  vol.  2,  p.  687.  "  Ilereticiis  in  jure,  &c. 
Every  excommunicated  person  is  by  right  a  heretic.  Who  is  a 
heretic.''  DicUiir  hereticus,  &lc.  He  is  a  heretic  who  opposes  the 
Roman  church  and  takes  away  its  dignity  ;  or  who  thinks  differ- 
ently from  the  Roman  church  concerning  any  article  of  faith." 
Honorius  reigned  from  121G  to  1227. 

The  first  constitution  of  pope  John  XXII.;  Incipiens  (ex  parte) 
1410 — declares,  that  "  Tlie  crime  of  heresy,  by  its  own  impiety, 
exceeds  all  other  impiety  •,  it  is  more  execrable  than  all  other  crimes, 
and  therefore  calls  aloud  for  more  severe  punishments  than  all  other 
crimes  do.   Heretics  are  the  receptacles  of  all  wickedness,  as  they 


310  APPENDIX. 

are  described  in  the  23d  chap,  of  Matthew,  Duces  mci,  &c.,  viz : 
the  leaders  of  the  bUnd,  serpents,  the  generation  of  vipers,  full  of 
rapine  and  impurity,  of  baseness,  hypocrisy,  and  iniquity.  There- 
fore, the  Son  of  the  Most  High  wished  to  have  his  immaculate  and 
spotless  church  armed  with  a  two-edged  sword,  in  order  to  bring 
these  nefarious  and  wicked  sects  to  the  paths  of  truth,  or  inflict 
perpetual  punishments.  It  is  forbidden  to  receive  heretics,  though 
allied  by  affinity  and  consanguinity.  Heresy,  though  ever  so  tri- 
vial, entirely  subverts  faith."     See  "Protestant,"  vol.  2,  p.  432. 

The  first  constitution  of  pope  Innocent  IV.,  beginning  Cum  ad- 
versiis,  &c.,  enacted  31st  October,  A.  D.  1242,  declares  "  Ut  here- 
tici,  &c.  That  heretics,  condemned  by  the  Roman  Catholic  church, 
&c.,  are  to  be  handed  over  to  the  secular  power  for  punishment, 
(i.  e.  where  the  secular  power  supports  this  tribunal.)  That  here- 
tics, although  penitent,  are  to  be  perpetually  imprisoned.  That 
heretics  are  to  be  taken  up  every  where,  and  consigned  to  the  in- 
quisitors. That  their  descendants,  to  the  second  generation,  are  to 
be  deprived  of  their  temporal  benefices  and  public  offices.  That 
the  inquisitors  are  to  l)e  favored  every  where.  That  heresy  is  to 
be  accounted  among  public  crimes,  and  adjudged  greater  than  the 
crime  of  high  treason.  That  impenitent  heretics  are  to  be  burnt 
alive.  That  heretics  are  to  be  always  looked  upon  and  considered 
as  infamous  people,  and  not  to  be  confided  in ;  that  their  goods  are 
to  be  confiscated,  and  that  their  children  cannot  inherit  their  pro- 
perty. That  those  invested  with  the  civil  power,  and  rectors  in 
their  respective  places,  are  to  be  bound  down  by  an  oath  to  prose- 
cute heretics  publicly.  That  heresy  is  never  to  be  tolerated  ;  but 
on  the  contrary,  is  always  to  be  punished.  That  these  laws  are 
universal,  and  are  to  be  observed  and  put  in  execution  every  where, 
&c." 

Pope  Boniface  VIII.,  afterward  confirmed  the  above  laws  (and 
many  others  not  included  in  the  enumeration)  in  the  year  1294. 

Pope  Clement  V.,  in  the  year  1305,  made  a  similar  constitution 
against  repealing  the  punishments  prescribed  by  his  predecessors 
against  heretics. 

Pope  John  XXII.,  who  reigned  from  1314  to  1534,  by  his  ninth 
constitution,  enacted  "  Tliat  the  inquisitors  be  allowed  to  have  arm- 
ed people  about  them,  for  the  purpose  of  suppressing  heretical  prav- 
ity,  and  for  self-defense.  That  Roman  Catholics  shall  not  associ- 
ate with  heretics;  and  that,  if  they  do,  they  are  liable  to  be  sus- 
pected of  heresy,  and  to  be  punished  by  the  inquisitors,  &c." 

By  the  apostolic  letters  of  ])ope  Innocent  IV.,  (Directorium  In- 
(juisitorum,  page  12,)  "Inquisitors  may  compel  ail  secular  magis- 
trates to  swear  that  they  will  keep  the  laws  enacted  against  here- 
tics." 

"  The  popes  never  repealed  or  abrogated  the  constitutions  es- 
tablished by  their  predecessors  against  heretical  pravity,  but,  on  the 


APPENDIX.  311 

contrary,  generally  confirmed  and  renewed  them  occasionally,  viz : 
Paul  IV.,  in  Constitution  19th,  A.  D.  1555,  and  Tins  V.,  in  Con- 
stitution 22d,  A.  D.  1566.     Protestant,  vol.  2,  p.  433. 

"Pope  Paul  v.,  A.  D.  1605,  declared  it  a  violation  of  faith  to 
abjure  the  deposing  and  absolving  powers  in  cases  of  heresy,  viz: 
powers  to  depose  heretical  kings,  and  in  their  realms  to  create 
Catholic  kings  ;  powers  to  absolve  subjects  from  their  oaths  of  alle- 
giance to  heretical  monarchs." 

"  In  the  year  1642,  Urban  Till.,  and  after  him  Alexander  VII., 
in  the  year  1663,  granted  the  same  privileges." 

"  Benedict  XIV.,  who  occupied  St.  Peter's  chair,  from  1740  to 
1758,  made  several  Constitutions  against  heretics,  at  the  head  of 
his  cardinals,  in  his  palace  at  Monte-Cavallo." 

Tliat  all  the  enactments  against  heresies  are  still  of  binding 
efficacy,  and  are  enforced  wherever  the  papal  power  maintains  an 
ascendency,  is  proved  by  tlie  fact,  that  "  Pope  Pius  Vll.,  together 
witli  the  congregation  of  the  universal  inquisition,  announced  them- 
selves by  insertion  in  the  Rom.  Register  in  1819,  as  the  authors 
and  abettors  of  the  inquisitorial  system."     Prot.  vol.  2,  p.  435. 

I  shall  conclude  this  subject  by  inserting  a  copy  of  an  oath  ad- 
ministered by  the  Romish  church;  which  was  found  among  a  col- 
lection of  papers  by  arch-bishop  Usher.    Protestant,  vol.  2,  p.  256. 

"  I,  A.  B.  now  in  the  presence  of  Almighty  God,  the  blessed  Vir- 
gin Mary,  the  blessed  Micliael  the  Archangel,  the  blessed  St.  John 
Baptist,  the  holy  apostles  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul,  and  the  saints  and 
sacred  host, of  heaven,  and  to  you  my  ghostly  father,  do  declare 
from  my  heart,  without  mental  reservation,  that  his  holiness  pope 
Urban  is  Christ's  vicar-general,  and  is  the  true  and  only  head  of  the 
Catholic  or  universal  ciiurch  throughout  the  earth;  and  that  by  the 
virtue  of  the  keys  of  binding  and  loosing  given  to  his  holiness  by 
my  Savior  Jesus  Christ,  he  hath  power  to  depose  heretical  kings, 
princes,  states,  commonwealths,  and  governments,  all  being  illegal, 
without  his  sacred  confirmation,  and  that  they  may  safely  be  des- 
troyed ;  therefore,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  I  shall  and  will  de- 
fend this  doctrine,  and  liis  holiness'  rights  and  customs  against  all 
usurpers  of  the  heretical  (or  Protestant)  authority  whatsoever;  es- 
pecially against  the  now  pretended  authority  and  church  of  Eng- 
land, and  all  adherents,  in  regard  tiiat  they  and  she  be  usurpal  and 
heretical,  opposing  the  sacred  mother  church  of  Rome.  1  do  re- 
nounce and  disown  any  allegiance  as  due  to  any  heretical  king, 
prince,  or  state,  named  Protestant,  or  obedient  to  any  of  their  in- 
ferior magistrates  or  officers.  I  do  further  declare,  that  the  doc- 
trine of  the  church  of  England,  of  the  Calvinists,  Huguenots,  and 
of  other  of  the  named  Protestants,  to  be  damnable,  and  they  tliem- 
selves  are  damned,  and  to  be  damned,  that  will  not  forsake  the 
same.  I  do  further  declare,  that  I  will  help,  assist,  and  advise  all, 
or  any  of  his  iioliuess'  agents  in  any  place,  wherever  I  shall  be,  in 


312  APPENDIX. 

England,  Scotland  and  Ireland,  or  in  any  other  territory  or  king^- 
doni,  I  shall  conne  to;  and  do  my  utmost  to  extirpate  the  heretical 
Protestants'  doctrine,  and  to  destroy  all  their  powers  legal  or  other- 
wise. I  do  further  promise  and  declare,  that  notwithstanding  I  am 
dispensed  with  to  assume  any  religion  heretical,  for  the  propagating 
of  the  mother  church's  interest,  to  keep  secret  and  private  all  her 
agent's  counsels  from  time  to  time,  as  they  intrust  me,  and  not  to 
divulge  directly  or  indirectly,  by  word,  writing,  or  circumstance, 
whatsoever;  but  to  execute  all  what  shall  be  proposed,  given  in 
charge,  or  discovered  unto  me,  by  you,  my  ghostly  father,  or  by 
any  of  this  sacred  convent.  All  which  I,  A.  B.,  do  swear  by  the 
blessed  Trinity,  and  blessed  sacrament,  which  I  now  am  to  receive, 
to  perform,  and  on  my  part  to  keep  inviolably.  And  I  do  call  all 
the  heavenly  and  glorious  host  of  heaven  to  witness  these  my  real 
intentions,  to  keep  this  my  oath.  In  testimony  hereof,  I  take  this 
most  holy  and  blessed  sacrament  of  the  eucharist ;  and  witness  the 
same  further  with  my  hand  and  seal  in  the  face  of  this  holy  con- 
vent this day  of A.  D." 

The  supremacy  of  the  pope  is  maintained  not  only  in  cathedra^ 
by  the  church  itself,  but  by  the  Romish  writers  of  every  age.  Bel- 
larmine,  says  "  The  supremacy  of  the  pope  is  the  main  substance 
of  Christianity." 

Blasius,  de  Rom.  Eccles.  Dignitat.  Tract  7th,  pages  34,  83,  85, 
asserts,  that  "  The  pope's  empire  is  over  all  the  world.  Pagan  and 
Christian ;  and  he  is  the  only  vicar  of  God,  who  has  supreme  pow- 
er and  empire  over  all  kings  and  princes  of  the  earth.  As  there  is 
one  God,  the  Monarch  of  all,  w^ho  presides  and  rules  over  all  mor- 
tals, so  there  is  one  vicar  of  God.  Kings  ought  to  be  under  Peter^ 
and  must  bow  down  and  submit  their  necks  to  him  and  his  succes- 
sors, who  is  prince  and  lord  of  all,  whom  all  emperors,  kings,  and 
potentates,  are  subject  to,  and  must  humbly  obey." 

In  the  Extravagantes  of  Boniface  VIII.,  it  is  asserted,  that  "It 
is  necessary. to  salvation  that  all  Christians  should  be  subject  to  the 
Roman  pontiff." 

In  the  Glossa  Extrav.  of  John  XXII.,  the  pontiff  is  styled  "  Do- 
minus  Deus  noster  Papa,"  "Our  Lord  God  the  Pope." 

Bzovius  de  Pontif  Roman.  Col.  Agrip.  chap.  1,  3,  16,  32  and  45, 
says  "  The  pope  is  monarch  of  all  Christians,  supreme  over  all 
mortals.  From  him  lies  no  appeal.  He  is  judge  in  heaven ;  and 
in  all  earthly  jurisdiction  supreme;  and  arbiter  of  the  world." 

Moscovius,  de  Majcst.  Eccles.  Militant,  lib.  50,  chap.  7,  p.  26, 
says  "  The  pope  is  universal  judge,  king  of  kings^  and  lord  of  lords^ 
because  his  power  is  of  God.  God's  tribunal  and  the  pope's  are 
the  same,  and  they  have  the  same  consistory.  All  other  powers  are 
his  sut)jects.     The  pope  is  judged  of  none  but  God." 

Maynardus,  de  Privileg.  Eccles.  Art.  5,  Sec.  19,  21,  23  ;  Art.  6, 
Sec.  1,  11,  12,  13;  Art.  13,  Sec.  9.    "  Emperors  and  kings  are  the 


APPENDIX. 


313 


pope's  subjects.  Emperors  and  kings  may  be  deposed  by  the  pope 
for  heresy.  The  pope  has  power  in  the  whole  workl,  in  spirituals 
and  temporals.  The  pope  is  vicar  of  God,  and  preferred  before 
all  powers,  as  God  himself;  and  every  creature  is  subject  to  him. 
It  is  necessary  to  salvation  to  be  subject  to  the  pope,  and  he  who 
affirms  the  contrary  is  no  Christian.  Statutes  made  by  laymen  do 
not  bind  the  clergy." 

Mancius,  de  Juv.  Princip.  Rom.  Lib.  3,  chap.  1,2.  "  The  pope 
is  Lord  of  the  whole  world.  The  pope,  as  pope,  has  temporal 
power.  The  pope's  temporal  power  is  most  eminent.  All  other 
powers  depend  on  the  pope." 

So  much  for  the  supremacy  of  the  pope.  But  in  the  eleventh 
century,  by  the  decretals  which  were  published,  Gregory  VII., 
maintained,  that  "  The  orders  of  the  Roman  court  should  be  every 
Avhere  obeyed,  and  by  all  classes  of  persons,  without  delay  or  con- 
tradiction ;  that  no  civil  law  had  any  force  or  authority  against  its 
canons  and  decrees  ;  that  the  tribunal  of  the  Church  is  superior  to 
that  of  the  sovereign ;  and  that  the  laws  of  the  state  ought  only  to 
be  obeyed  when  they  are  not  contrary  to  those  of  the  Church." 
And  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  popery  has  never  yielded  any  of  its 
pretensions  to  supremacy,  infallibility  and  unchangeableness.  It 
claims  to  be  now  what  it  assumed  to  be  in  the  darkest  ages  of  the 
world.  Its  laws  and  its  maxims  against  heresies  are  never  revoked. 
Its  sword  is  never  sheathed  •  and  is  suspended  only  when  its  arm 
is  paralized. 

The  doctrines  and  moral  precepts  it  inculcates  are  offensive,  not 
only  to  religion,  but  to  virtue ;  and  are  the  impure  streams  of  a  cor- 
rupt fountain. 

In  the  Corpus  Juv.  Canonici,  it  is  affirmed,  that  "  The  pope  may 
depose  princes,  and  absolve  their  subjects  from  their  oaths  of  alle- 
giance. The  pope  does  by  usual  authority  so  absolve  subjects  from 
their  oaths  to  superiors." 

Urbanus  II.,  Papa,  Cap.  Excommunic.  47,  Cans.  23,  Quest.  5, 
Apud  Gratian,  "  They  are  not  homicides,  who  from  zeal  for  the 
Roman  church  kill  those  who  are  excommunicated."  For  it  is 
elsewhere  affirmed,  that  "  Every  excommunicated  person  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  devil," 

Spots  wood's  Hist,  of  Scotland,  p.  308.  "If  the  pope  dispense 
with  voluntary  oaths,  it  is  valid." 

In  the  body  of  canon  laws  it  is  laid  down,  that  "  No  oath  against 
the  benefit  of  the  Church  is  binding.    All  such  oaths  arc  perjuries." 

In  the  Direct.  Inquis.  of  Honorius  III.,  p.  168,  "  Tlie  pope  can 
make  new  articles  of  faith,  and  appoint  liow  they  shall  be  under- 
stood. The  definitions  of  popes  and  councils  are  articles  of  faith," 
And  in  p.  G75,  "  Persons  bound  to  others  who  fall  into  heresy  are 
released  from  their  fidelity."  In  page  166,  "  A  heretic  should  not 
be  paid  what  is  due  to  him,  on  a  promise  even  of  an  oath."     In 


314  THE   CHRISTIAN   ERA. 

page  173,  "All  persons  are  forbidden  to  show  any  kindness  to 
heretics." 

Sanchez,  Op.  Moral.  Lib.  1,  chap.  10,  No.  12,  13,  p.  49.  "An 
oath  obliges  not  beyond  the  intention  of  him  who  takes  it;  because 
he  who  hath  no  intention  to  swear,  cannot  be  obliged  in  conscience 
to  any  thing  at  all." 

Sa,  Verb.  Confessio,  No.  12,  p.  88.  "  It  is  but  a  venial  sin  to  lie 
unto  a  confessor  in  confessing  sins." 

Taberna.  vol.  2,  part  2,  tract.  2,  chap.  31,  page  288.  "  If  the 
deposition  of  a  witness  will  injure  him,  he  is  not  bound  to  declare 
the  truth  before  a  legitimate  judge.  Nor  can  a  priest  be  forced  to 
testify  before  a  secular  judge." 

Filiucius.  Moral.  Quest.  Tom.  1 ,  tract  5,  chap.  6.  "  A  priest  who 
hath  received  a  large  sum  of  money  to  say  masses,  may  hire  other 
priests,  to  sing  them,  as  cheap  as  he  can,  and  retain  the  surplus  to 
himself." 

Tliese  examples,  which  might  be  indefinitely  extended,  sufficient- 
ly prove  the  corruption  which  pervades  the  whole  papal  system. 
Others  might  be  adduced,  the  bare  recital  of  which  would  sliock 
the  moral  feelings  of  the  reader. 


THE    CHRISTIAN    ERA. 

The  system  of  computing  and  adjusting  the  periods  of  time  in 
the  narration  of  historical  events,  founded  upon  the  assumed  date 
of  the  nativity  of  our  Lord  and  Savior  Jesus  Christ,  has  been 
adopted  by  all  Christian  nations.  This  system  was  introduced  by 
Dionysius  Exiguus,  a  theological  writer,  in  the  sixth  century.  In 
determining  the  date  of  our  Saviors  birth,  there  was  a  mistake  in 
his  computation  of  four  years  and  six  days.  His  chronological 
tables  were  compiled  by  this  miscalculation  of  the  true  time  ;  and 
the  error  lias  not  been  corrected.  It  is  now  universally  admitted 
that  the  nativity  occurred  the  25th  of  December,  in  the  year  3999; 
and  that  the  rite  of  circumcision  was  performed  the  first  day  of  the 
following  year,  or  4000  A.  M.  These  statements  are  agreeable  to 
the  Hebrew  text.  In  consequence  of  the  error  of  Dionysius,  the 
beginning  of  the  Christian  era  dates  from  the  first  day  of  the  year 
4005.  From  this  [)oint  of  time  the  years  are  counted,  in  a  retro- 
grade ratio  towards  the  creation,  or  forward  to  subsequent  ages. 
By  deducting  the  number  of  years  from  the  creation  at  which  any 
known  event  has  occurred  from  4004,  the  remainder  will  give  the 
number  of  years  before  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era. 


THE   CHRISTIAN    ERA, 


315 


To  any  date  subsequent,  add  4004,  to  ascertain  the  number  of  years 
from  the  creation  to  the  event  proposed,  or  4,  to  determine  its  dis- 
tance from  the  true  period  of  the  nativity. 

The  assumption  of  a  point  of  time  for  the  beginning  of  any  era, 
is  altogether  discretionary.  Different  nations  have  referred  to  dif- 
ferent epochs,  in  their  respective  histories,  to  determine  the  period 
of  any  national  event.  As  did  the  Romans,  from  tlie  founding  of 
their  city,  the  Greeks  from  the  institution  of  the  Olympic  games, 
the  Mahometans  from  the  flight  of  their  prophet  to  Medina,  the 
early  Eastern  historians,  from  the  founding  of  the  second  kingdom 
of  Babylon  by  Nabonassar.  In  the  United  States  of  America,  the 
period  of  the  declaration  of  their  national  independence  is  the 
epoch  to  which  public  records  and  documents  most  commonly 
refer. 

Ancient  chronologists  differed  widely  in  their  several  computa- 
tions of  the  time  between  the  creation  of  the  world  and  the  birth 
of  Christ.  Some  of  them  assigned  to  it  a  series  of  3483  years, 
others  not  less  than  6984;  and  about  two  hundred  different  calcu- 
lations have  resulted  in  as  many  different  statements.  The  extremes 
of  these  opinions  are  not  less  than  thirty-five  hundred  years  apart. 

The  most  approved  texts  are  the  Hebrew,  the  Samaritan,  and 
the  Septuagint.  The  following  statement  will  show  the  number  of 
years  computed  to  have  elapsed,  between  the  creation  of  the  world 
and  the  birth  of  Christ,  by  these  three  versions  of  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures : 

Agreeably  to  the  Hebrew  text  there  were  4000  years. 
"         "       Samaritan     "         "         4696      " 
"         "       Septuagint    "         "         5875      " 

To  each  of  which  must  be  added  4  years,  to  bring  the  computa- 
tions to  the  period  when  the  Christian  era  commenced.  The  He- 
brew text  is  that  most  generally  adopted ;  and  forms  the  basis  of 
the  Chronology  in  the  preceding  pages. 

The  Julian  period,  as  it  has  been  termed,  invented  by  the  cele- 
brated Scaliger,  refers  to  no  particular  event;  but  is  simply  a  sum 
of  years  obtained  by  multiplying  successively  into  each  other,  the 
numbers,  19  or  the  years  of  the  lunar  cycle,  28  or  those  of  the  so- 
lar cycle,  and  15  for  the  cycle  of  indictions.^  The  product  will 
be  7980.  In  a  retrograde  computation  it  has  been  ascertained  that 
No.  1,  will  not  correspond  with  the  three  cycles  at  a  period  earlier 
than  the  4714th  year  before  the  commencement  of  the  Christian 
era.     The  year  of  the  creation  will  therefore  correspond  with  the 

'This  period  lias  no  reference  to  any  astronomical  plienomena.  Its  assumption  in 
the  compulation  is  iiltogethcr  arbitrary.  It  is  supposed  to  relate  to  certain  judicial 
acts  under  the  Greek  emperors.  It  has  been  traced  back  to  Constantino,  and  wag 
introduced  into  the  Chronology  of  the  middle  ages;  and  is  still  used  by  the  papal 
court.  The  commencement  of  Us  compulation  is  generally  referred  to  the  1st  of  Janu- 
ary 313. 


316  THE   CHRISTIAN    ERA. 

710th  year  of  the  Julian  period.  If  the  number  of  years,  before 
Christ,  of  any  event  be  known,  subtract  that  from  4714,  the  differ- 
ence will  be  the  year  of  the  Julian  period.  Add  the  number  of 
years  of  any  event  subsequent  to  the  first  of  the  Christian  era  to 
4713,  and  the  sum  will  be  the  year  of  the  Julian  period.  It  is  evi- 
dent that  the  beginning  of  this  period  is  fixed  at  an  imaginary  point 
of  time,  before  time  was. 

Whilst  the  Hebrews  were  in  Egypt,  their  years  commenced 
from  the  autumnal  equinox ;  but  after  their  settlement  in  Canaan, 
in  commemoration  of  the  time  of  their  deliverance,  the  month 
Nisan,^  which  usually  began  about  the  time  of  the  vernal  equinox, 
was  adopted  as  the  first  of  the  year.  This  therefore,  was  ever 
after  observed  as  the  commencement  of  the  ecclesiastical  year. 
The  civil  year  continued,  however,  as  it  had  been,  beginning  with 
the  month  Tisri.  The  appearance  of  a  new  Moon  determined  the 
point  of  time  at  which  the  month  commenced.  Their  months  were 
therefore  strictly  lunar ;  and  to  conform  with  the  synodical  course 
of  the  Moon,  these  consisted  alternately  of  thirty  and  twenty-nine 
days.  But  as  twelve  lunar  months  falling  short  of  a  solar  year 
would  terminate  the  year  of  computation  at  too  early  a  period,  and 
thus  derange  their  calendar  of  time,  another  month  was  intercalated 
every  third  year  after  the  month  Adar,  which  was  therefore  called 
Veadar.  In  consequence  of  this  irregular  and  arbitrary  computa- 
tion, it  has  been  found  impossible  to  reduce  their  system  to  a  cor- 
respondence with  the  calculations  of  time  founded  on  the  Julian 
period;^  and  to  bring  their  respective  dates  to  a  conformity  with 
each  other. 

The  computation  of  a  year  of  twelve  months,  with  thirty  days 
in  each  month,  and  an  addition  of  five  days,  is  of  very  great  anti- 
quity, and  has  been  traced  back  to  the  remotest  ages,  among  the 
Chaldeans  and  Egyptians.  The  chronology  of  the  Book  of  Gene- 
sis seems  to  have  been  founded  on  this  system,  five  months  being 
made  equal  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  days  in  the  account  of  the  De- 
luge. But  this  does  not  appear  to  have  been  retained  by  the  Israel- 
ites after  their  settlement  in  Palestine. 

The  Feast  of  tfie  Passover  was  celebrated  on  the  fourteenth  day 
of  the  month  Nisan,  without  respect  to  the  day  of  the  week ;  and 
this  rule  was  observed  by  the  Christians  in  keeping  their  Easter, 
until  differences  arose  between  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  converts  on 
the  question  of  the  Mosaic  rites ;  after  this,  some  of  them  began 
this  festival  the  Sunday  immediately  succeeding  tlie  fourteenth; 
alledging  that  the  apostles  Peter  and  Paul,  had  adopted  that  as  the 
appropriate  time;  others  adhered  to  the  Jewish  custom,  on  the  au- 
thority, as  they  affirmed,  of  Philip  and  John.     This  separation  oc- 

'Called  by  Moses,  Abib.    After  the  return  from  the  captivity  it  received  the  name 
of  Nisan. 
'A  Julian  year  consists  of  tliree  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  and  six  hours. 


THE    CHRISTIAN    ERA.  317 

casioned  a  long*  and  angry  controversy  between  the  Eastern  and 
Western  churches,  until  the  council  of  Nice,  decreed  in  the  year 
325,  that  "  Easter  should  be  on  tiic  Sunday  that  should  follow  next, 
immediately  after  the  fourteenth  of  the  Moon  that  should  follow 
next  after  the  vernal  equinox;  (which  was  then  on  the  twenty-first 
of  March  •,)  and  that  it  should  be  referred  to  the  bishop  of  Alexan- 
dria, to  calculate  every  year,  on  what  day,  according  to  these  rules, 
the  festival  should  begin."  The  retrocession  of  the  equinox,  by 
reason  of  the  Julian  year  exceeding  a  true  solar  year,  gave  rise  to 
a  reform  of  the  calendar  in  the  sixteenth  century  ;  with  a  view  of 
determining  the  true  time  of  observing  that  festival,  by  correcting 
the  errors  in  the  computation  of  time. 

Julius  Cffisar,  discovering  that  there  was  a  difference  of  three 
months  between  the  astronomical  and  civil  equinox,  adopted  the  so- 
lar year,  as  the  correct  measure  of  time,  and  abolished  the  ancient 
system  of  calculating  by  the  revolutions  or  phases  of  the  Moon. 
Numa  had  adopted  tlie  system  of  alternate  months  of  twenty-nine 
and  thirty  days,  with  the  intercalation  of  a  month  every  second 
year,  to  consist  alternately  of  twenty-two  and  twenty-three  days. 
Julius  Cajsar,  with  the  assistance  of  the  astronomer  Sosigenes,  re- 
formed the  Calendar,  by  decreeing,  that  a  common  year  should 
consist  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days,  and  every  fourth  year 
of  three  hundred  and  sixty-six.  As  the  24th  of  February,  after 
which  this  additional  day  was  inserted,  was  called  "the  sixth  be- 
fore the  calends  of  March,"  the  day  thus  inserted  was  called  bis- 
sexto  (twice  sixth)  calendas.  From  this  is  derived  the  English 
word  bissextile,  answering  to  our  leap  year. 

The  Julian  year  consisted,  by  this  regulation,  of  three  hundred 
and  sixty-live  days  and  six  hours ;  and  was,  therefore,  longer  than 
the  true  solar  year  by  nearly  twelve  minutes.  At  that  time,  the  as- 
tronomical equinox  corresponded  with  the  25th  day  of  March.  In 
the  year  325,  it  had  retroceded  to  the  21st  of  that  month.  In  the 
sixteenth  century,  or  in  the  year  1582,  it  had  fallen  back  to  the 
11th.  Pope  Gregory  XIII.,  decreed,  that  ten  days  be  suppressed; 
and  that  the  day  of  the  vernal  equinox  of  that  year  should  be  in- 
serted in  the  Calendar  as  the  21st  of  March,  as  it  was  in  the  year 
325.  To  prevent  a  future  recurrence  of  this  irregularity,  he  or- 
dered, "  The  intercalation  which  took  place  every  fourth  year  to 
be  omitted  in  years  ending  centuries;  that  is  to  say,  on  the  lOOth, 
200th,  &c.,  exce))ting  on  the  400th,  and  the  years  which  are  mul- 
tiples of  400."  In  other  words,  "  Every  year  of  which  t!ie  num- 
ber is  divisible  by  four  without  a  remainder  is  a  leap  year;  except- 
ing the  centesimal  years,  which  are  leap  years  only  when  divisible 
by  four  after  suppressing  the  two  zeros.  Thus  IGOO  was  a  leap 
year;  1700  and  1800  were  common  years;  1900  will  be  a  com- 
mon year ;  2000  a  leap  year." 


318  THE    CHRISTIAN   ERA. 

The  Julian  Calendar  is  known  as  the  Old  Style,  the  Gregorian 
as  the  New  Style.  The  Protestant  States  of  Germany  and  the 
kingdom  of  Denmark,  adhered  to  the  Julian  Calendar  until  the 
year  1700-,  and  in  England  the  New  Style  was  formally  adopted 
by  Act  of  Parliament  in  the  year  1752.  The  third  of  September 
was  dated  the  fourteenth,  as  the  law  went  into  operation  on  that 
day.  The  countries  under  the  government  of  the  Greek  church 
still  adhere  to  the  Old  Stvle  in  their  calculation  of  dates. 


A  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE 

OF  EVENTS  CONNECTED  WITH  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  CHRIS- 
TIAN CHURCH,  FROM  THE  CREATION  OF  THE 
WORLD  TO  THE  16th  CENTURY. 


Note. The  dates  refer  to  the  commencement  of  the  Cliristian  era,  and  not  to  the 

true  time  of  tlie  nativity  of  Jesus  Christ. 


BEFORE  CHRIST. 
B.  C. 

4004  Creation  of  the  world;  4000  years  before  the  nativity  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

3875  Cain  murdered  Abel ;  was  cursed.  From  him  descended  the 
"  sons  of  men." 

3874  Birth  of  Seth,  the  second  Patriarch,  From  him  descended 
the  "  sons  of  God." 

3017  Enoch  translated  to  heaven  without  tasting  death. 

2347  Noah  left  the  ark ;  otfered  a  sacrifice  to  the  Lord ;  and  is 
blessed. 

2341   Canaan  the  younger  son  of  Ham  cursed  by  Noah. 

2247  The  Tower  of  Babel  built;  and  the  posterity  of  Noaii  dis- 
persed. 

1921   Abraham  called  to  be  the  father  of  God's  chosen  people. 

1912  Abraham  blessed  by  Melchizedek,  king  of  Salem,  and  priest 
of  God. 

1897  Circumcision  ordained. 

1521  Job  supposed  to  be  cotemporary  with  Moses. 

1491  The  Passover  instituted.  The  Israelites  are  commanded  to 
take  a  lamb  for  every  house,  which  was  to  be  eaten  roast- 
ed; and  to  mark  their  door  posts  with  its  blood,  as  a  to- 
ken that  should  preserve  them  amidst  the  impending  judg- 
ment determined  against  the  Egyptians. 

The  Israelites  murmur  for  water  in  the  wilderness.    The  rock 

is  smitten  by  Moses.  In  the  third  month  after  the  Pass- 
over they  arrive  at  Mount  Sinai;  and  the  law  is  given  by 
God. 
1490  The  tabernacle  is  erected,  and  the  ark  placed  in  it.  Aaron 
consecrated  as  high-priest.  Priests  and  Levites  ai)pointed. 
1451  Balaam  sentforby  Balak,kingof  Moab,to  curse  the  Israelites 


320  CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 

1451  The  waters  of  Jordan  are  divided.     The  Israelites  passed 

over,  and  took  Jericho. 
1413  The  Israelites  worshiped  Baal  and  Ashtaroth ;  and  were  de- 
livered to  their  enemies, 
1046  The  fortress  of  Zion  taken  by  David  from  the  Jebusites. 
1011   The  foundation  of  the  first  Temple  laid  by  Solomon. 
1004  The  Temple  finislied ;  was  dedicated ;  and  the  ark  placed  in  it, 
975  The  kingdom  divided. 

72G  Hezekiah  destroyed  all  the  altars  of  idolatry. 
721   Shalmaneser  besieged  Samaria,  and  carried  the  ten  tribes  into 

Assyria. 
629  Joshua  destroyed  the  idols;  repaired  and  purified  the  Temple. 
625  The  law  discovered. 

606  The  seventy  years  captivity  commenced.     Jehoiachim  car- 
ried to  Babylon, 
586  Jerusalem  entirely  destroyed  by  the  Babylonians.   Zedekiah, 
having  seen  all  his  children  slain,  was  deprived  of  sight, 
and  carried  to  Babylon. 
536  Joshua  returned  with  the  Jews  from  the  captivity.     Com- 
menced with  Zerubbabel,  to  I'ebuild  the  Temple;  but 
prevented  by  their  enemies. 
516  The  Temple  finished,  and  the  Passover  celebrated. 
458  Ezra  arrived  at   Jerusalem  with  a  commission  from  Arta- 
xerxes  to  re-establish  the  government;  which  was  in  the 
seventh  year  of  the  reign  of  Artaxerxes. 
445  Nehemiah  permitted  to  go  to  Jerusalem  to  re-build  its  walls. 
434  The  historical   part  of  the  Old  Testament  closed,  by  the 

Book  of  Nehemiah. 
348  The  Grecian  philosopher,  Plato,  flourished  about  this  time. 
342  Jaddus,  in  his  priestly  attire,  met  Alexander  the  Great,  and 
sliowed  him  the  prophecy  of  Daniel,  in  which  his  con- 
quests were  foretold, 
331   The  city  of  Alexandria  founded, 

273  Elcazar  sent  to  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  six  men  of  every 
tribe  to  translate  the  sacred  Books  into  Greek;  which 
translation  is  called  the  Septuagint, 
63  Pompcy  the  Great  entered  Jerusalem;   and  conferred  the 

government  on  Antipater, 
37  Herod  the  Great  declared  king  of  Judea  by  a  decree  of  the 

Roman  senate, 
31  Octavius  Caisar  tiiumphed  over  all  his  enemies  in  the  battle 

of  Actium, 
—  Virgil,  the  poet,  flourished  in  the  court  of  Augustus. 

Jesus  Christ  was  born,  Dec,  25th,  in  the  year  of  the  world 
3999,  In  the  year  4000,  Joseph,  with  Mary  and  Jesus, 
fled  to  Egypt,  Ilcrod  the  Great  died ;  and  Joseph  re- 
turned to  Judea. 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE.  321 

The  Christian  era  commenced  January  1st,  A.  M.  4005,  or  four 
years  and  six  days  after  the  nativity  of  Jesus  Christ.  In  the  fol- 
lowing table,  therefore,  four  years  must  be  added  to  any  given  date 
to  determine  the  true  period  fi'om  l)is  birth.  For  example:  The 
time  of  his  crucifixion  is  inserted  in  the  table  as  liaving  occurred,  A. 
D.  33,  to  this  add  4,  and  it  will  be  found  tliat,  that  event  took  place 
in  the  37th  year  of  his  age.  This  rule  will  apply  to  every  other 
date  in  the  table.    The  present  year,  1845,  should  have  been  1849. 

A.  D. 

8  Jesus  Christ,  twelve  years  old,  appeared  in  the  Temple.  In 
that  year,  Archelaus,  the  fourth  son  of  Herod  the  Great, 
was  deposed  from  the  kingdom  of  Judea,  by  Octavius  Ca*- 
sar,  (Augustus,)  and  banished  to  Yienne,  in  Gaul;  and  Judea 
was  made  a  Roman  province.  The  sceptre  departed  from 
Judah  ;  Gen.  xlix.  10. 
26  The  ministry  of  the  Gospel  begun  by  John  the  Baptist,  the 
forerunner  of  Jesus  Christ;  Mark  i.  1,  and  Luke  xvi.  16; 
which  he  carried  on  three  and  a  half  years. 

29  Jesus  Christ  baptized  by  John.     About  the  time  of  the  autum- 

nal equinox,  John  having  been  put  in  prison  by  Herod  An- 
tipas,  Christ  appeared  personally  in  the  ministry  of  his  Gos- 
pel, and  carried  it  on  three  years  and  a  half  more. 

30  Marriage  in  Cana,  where  Jesus  converted  the  water  into  wine. 

—  Jesus  celebrated  his  first  Passover. 

31  Second  Passover  celebrated.     The  sermon  on  the  Mount. 

32  Mission  of  the  apostles  into  several  parts  of  Judea. 

—  Miracle  of  the  loaves  and  fishes. 

—  Celebration  of  the  third  Passover. 

—  Transfiguration  on  the  Mount. 

— -  Mission  of  tlie  seventy-two  disciples. 

33  Lazarus  raised  from  the  dead. 

—  Jesus  went  to  Jerusalem  to  celebrate  his  fourth  and  last  Pass- 

over. Sunday,  March  29th,  (9th  of  the  month  Nisan,)  ar- 
rived at  Bethany,  and  supped  with  his  disciples.  His  tri- 
umphant entry  into  Jerusalem  the  following  day.  Thursday, 
April  2d,  (13th  of  Nisan,)  passed  the  day  on  the  Mount  of 
Olives.  Peter  and  John  sent  into  the  city  to  prepare  for 
the  Passover.  In  the  evening  he  supped  with  his  disci- 
ples, and  instituted  the  Eucharist.  Retired  after  su])per  into 
the  the  garden  of  Gethsemane  ;  and  was  seized  by  Judas 
with  a  band  of  soldiers.  Conducted  to  Annas,  father-in- 
law  of  the  high-priest  Caiaphas,  the  same  night. 
33  Friday,  April  3d,  (14th  of  Nisan,)  Jesus  carried  to  Pilate;  ac-- 
cused ;  condemned,  and  crucified  on  Calvary. 

—  Sunday  morning,  April  5th,  (IGth  of  Nisan,)  he  rose  from  the 

dead. 

21 


322  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

33  May  14th;  ascended  into  heaven  on  the  40th  day  after  his 

resurrection.  Ten  days  after,  being  the  Feast  of  Pentecost, 
the  Holy  Ghost  descended  upon  the  apostles. 

34  Seven  deacons  chosen.    Stephen  was  martyred.    The  Church 

persecuted  by  Saul.  In  this  year  the  believers  in  Jerusa- 
lem were  dispersed. 

44  James  the  Greater  beheaded  by  Herod  Agrippa;  and  Peter 
imprisoned. 

51   Judaizing  Christians  enforced  the  law  on  converted   Gentiles. 

—  Council   at   Jerusalem   determined,  that  converted    Gentiles 

should  not  be  bound  to  an  observance  of  the  legal  ceremo- 
nies.    Peter  soon  after  reproved  by  Paul. 

62  Paul  arrived  in  Rome,^  where  he  remained  a  prisoner  two 
years. 

64  Peter's  first  Epistle  written  in  Babylon. 

—  First  persecution  of  the  Christians,  under  Nero ;  who  reigned 

from  54  to  68. 

66  Paul  carried  bad^t  to  Rome. 

67  Paul  martyred.     It  has  been  conjectured  that  Peter  was  then 

crucified. 

68  Christians  in  Jerusalem  fled  to  Pella  to  escape  the  impending 

dangers. 

69  Titus  commenced  the  siege  of  Jerusalem. 

70  September  8th.   The  city  taken  by  the  Romans,  and  the  Tem- 

ple utterly  destroyed. 

95  Second  persecution  of  the  Christians,  under  Domitian ;  who 

reigned  from  81  to  96.  Under  this  persecution  the  Apostle 
John  was  banished  to  the  Isle  of  Patmos. 

96  Domitian,  the  last  of  the  twelve  Caesars,  assassinated  by  his 

own  wife.  He  was  succeeded  by  Nerva,  who  recalled  the 
Christians  from  banishment. 

100  The  Apostle  John  died  at  Ephesus,  whither  he  had  returned  in 
96  from  Patmos. 

107  Third  persecution  of  the  Christians,  under  Trajan ;  who  reign- 
ed from  98  to  117. 

115  Alexander,  bishop  of  Rome,  ordered  water  to  be  mixed  with 
the  wine,  in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 

119  Persecution  of  the  Christians  continued  by  Adrian  ;  who  reign- 
ed from  into  138. 

124  The  priests  required  by  Sixtus  I.,  bishop  of  Rome,  to  offici- 
ate in  linen  surplices. 

'  Paul,  tlirce  days  after  his  arrival  in  Rome,  called  the  chief  of  the  Jews  together, 
and  explained  to  tliem  the  cause  of  his  imprisonment.  They  replied,  tliat  they  had 
heard  nothing  against  him  ;  "  But,"  they  said,  "  we  d«iirc  to  liear  of  thee  what  thou 
thinkest;  for  as  concerning  this  sect,  we  know  that  it  is  every  where  spoken  against." 
This  utter  ignorance  of  the  chief  of  ttie  Jews,  is  not  consistent  with  the  pretension 
of  Peter's  havinir  then  been  hishop  of  Home  twenty  years,  or  from  the  year  42  to  62, 
OS  the  Papists  affirm.     See  Acts  xxviii.  22. 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE.  323 

12'6  Quadratus,  a  disciple  of  the  apostles,  wrote  an  apology  for  the 
Christians.  Adrian  thereupon  ordered  that  they  be  punish- 
ed only  for  a  breach  of  the  laws. 

130  Prodicus,  founder  of  the  Adamites,  who  worshipped  naked. 

134  Marcion  wrote  th«  Atithescs,  and  blended  the  Eastern  doc- 
trines with  Christianity. 

142  Valentinus,  who  maintained  the  doctrines  of  the  Gnostics. 

150  Feast  of  the  Passover,  first  celebrated  on  Sunday,  by  order  of 
Pius  I. 

—  Ircnacus,  bishop  of  Lyons,  and  disciple  of  Polycarp,  author  of 
5  Books  against  Heretics.  Theophilus,  bishop  of  Antioch, 
author  of  a  defense  of  Christianity.  Clemens,  disciple  of 
Panta^nus,  author  of  Stromata,  Pedagogue,  &c.  Athenago- 
ras,  author  of  a  Treatise  on  the  Resurrection,  all  flourished 
about  this  time,  and  after, 

152  Antoninus  Pius,  who  reigned  from  136  to  161,  prohibited  the 
persecution, 

158  Great  controversy  in  the  Chtirch  aS  to  the  time  of  celebrating 
Easter.^ 

163  Fourth  persecution,  under  Marcus  Aurelius,  who  reigned  from 
161  to  180.  About  this  time  died  Polycarp,  at  the  age  of 
eighty,  the  victim  of  persecution. 

165  Justin  Martyr  died;  another  victim  to  the  persecution  by  the 
Pagans. 

171  Montanus,  who  believed  in  two  Holy  Ghosts,  opposed  second 
marriages,  and  the  reception  to  repentance  of  such  as  had 
lapsed.  % 

175  Appelles,  who  maintained  that  the  body  of  Christ  was  a  mere 
fantasm.  About  this  time  the  Platonics,  or  Eclectics  ap- 
peared first  in  Alexandria. 

177  Persecution  of  the  Christians  increased.  Apology  for  them 
by  Athenagoras. 

190  TertuUian  wrote  an  apology  for  the  Christians  in  the  reign  of 
Commodus. 

202  Fifth  persecution  under  Severus,  who  reigned  from  198  to 
211,  This  persecution  was  continued  to  the  end  of  his 
reign, 

205  TertuUian,  mortified  by  the  ill  treatment  he  had  received  from 
the  clergy  of  Rome,  embraced  the  doctrines  of  Montanus. 

212  The  Christian  religion  introduced  into  Scotland. 

222  Christians  favored  by  the  emperor  Alexander,  who  reigned 
from  222  to  235. 

'The  English  word  Easier,  txn(]  tl)c  German  Oslern,arc  derived  from  Uie  Teutonic 
Goddess  Oslcra,  (Anglo-S;ixon  Eastre.)  whose  festival  was  eclcbrated  by  li  o  ancient 
Saxons,  with  peculiar  solemnities,  in  the  month  of  April.  E'^trrn,  or  the  (ioddess  of 
the  East:  in  the  S^friac  EsUrn  ;  in  llie  Phccnician  .hlaiie.  The  term  is  one  of  idol- 
atrous origin,  and  was  appropriat-eiy  n^ceived  by  tlie  Koniish  cliurcii,  wiiich  liad  al- 
ready begun  to  worsiiip  llio  "  Host  of  Heaven,"  or  .islaroth. 


324  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 

222  Ember-weeks  instituted  by  Calixtus,  bisbop  of  Rome. 

230  About  this  time  the  first  churches  were  erected  for  public  wo?- 

sliip.     The  acts  of  the  Martyrs  directed  to  be  enrolled  in 

the  archives  of  the  Church. 
225  Sixth  persecution,  under  Maximinus,  who  reigned  from  235 

to  238. 

250  Seventh  persecution,  under  Decius,  who  reigned  from  249  to 

251.     The  Eremites. 

251  After  the  death  of  Fabian,  bishop  of  Rome,  there  was  a  va- 

cancy in  the  see  for  eighteen  months.  During  this  schism, 
Novatian  a  presbyter,  withdrew  from  the  communion  with 
the  Romish  church,  and  organized  a  church  on  scriptural 
principles.  His  followers  were  called  Cathari,  or  Puritans. 
Dawn  of  the  Reformation. 
253  Origen;  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight.     Author  of  the  Hex- 

apla,  commentaries,  &c. 
Controversy  between  Stephen  I.,  bishop  of  Rome  and  Cypri- 
an, bishop  of  Carthage,  on  the  question  of  re-baptizing  those 
who  had  lapsed. 
257  Eighth  persecution,  under  Valerian;  who  reigned  from  254  to 
2  GO. 

Sabellius  of  Ptolemais  maintained  that  there  is  but  one  person 

in  the  Godhead. 
262  Paul,  bishop  of  Antioch,  denied  the  divinity  of  Jesus  Christ. 
269  Council  at  Antioch  decreed,  that  the  Son  is  not  of  the  same 
essence  with  the  Father.    The  followers  of  Paul  called  Paul- 
ianists.     Their  doctrines  were  the  same  as  those  now  main- 
tained by  the  Socinians. 
273  Ninth  persecution,  under  Aurelian;   who  reigned  from  270 

to  275. 
—  Yearly  sacrifices  commemorative  of  the    martyrs  instituted 

by  Felix  I. 
277  Maues,  founder  of  the  sect  of  Manichaeans.     See  history  for 

his  doctrines. 
Minucius  Felix    wrote  Dialogues  (entitled  Octavius)  in  de- 
fense of  the  Christians. 
283  Hierax,  founder  of  the  sect  of  the  Hieracians,  who  main- 
tained that  Melchizidek  was  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  denied 
the  resurrection. 
296  Athanasius,  the  celebrated  founder  of  the  sect  of  the  Athana- 

sians,  born  this  year. 
303  Tenth  and  last  general  persecution  of  the  Christians,  under 
Diocletian  and  Maximinus,  who  reigned  jointly  from  286 
to  304  when  bolh  resigned  the  crown. 
3CG  Constantine  the  Great  proclaimed  emperor. 
307  Licinius  made  emperor  by  Galerius  and  Diocletian,  and  united 
with  Constantine. 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE.  325 

311  Donatus,  Head  of  the  Donatists,  Bishop  of  Casae  Nigrse,  de- 
nied, the  validity  of  baptism  out  of  his  church,  and  the  in- 
fallibihty  of  the  Romish  Church. 

313  Persecution  arrested,  by  the  edict  of  Constantine  and  Licinius. 
Palace  of  Plautinus  Lateranus,  who  had  been  proscribed  in 

the  time  of  Nero ;   given  by  Constantine  to   INIelchiades, 
Bishop  of  Rome.     Hence  the  term  Lateran. 

314  Origin  of  the  Vaudois  Church,  agreeably  to  the  Historian 

Crantz,  when  Leo  opposed  the  innovation  of  Sylvester  I, 
and  the  Churches  of  the  Valleys  protested  against  the  in- 
creasing usurpations  of  the  Roman  See. 
316  Arius  denied  the  unity  of  the  Godhead  of  Jesus  Christ  with 
the  Father. 

322  Licinius  banished  the  Christians  from  Rome  and  prohibited 

their  holding  councils. 

323  Licinius  defeated  by  Constantine,  and  compelled  to  abdicate 

the  Throne. 
325  First  Ecumenical  Council  (at  Nice.)  Arius  condemned.  The 
Nicene  Creed  composed.  The  time  of  celebrating  Easter 
fixed  for  the  first  Sunday  after  the  Paschal  full  Moon. 
The  term  Consuhstantial  first  used  by  this  Council.  Atha- 
nasius  opposed  the  doctrines  of  Arius — He  maintained  '  one 
God  in  Trinity ;  and  the  Trinity  in  Unity.' 

335  Arnobius,   Teacher  of  Rhetoric  in   Numidia,   wrote   seven 

Books  against  the  Gentiles. 

336  The  signing  of  the  Nicene  Creed,  and  giving  the  Pall  to  the 

Bishop  introduced. 

Lactantius,  wrote  the  Divine  Institutions  against  Pagan  super- 

stitions. 

337  Constantine  the  Great  died.     Succeeded  by  his  sons,  Con- 

vStantine,  Constans,  and  Constantius  :  among  whom  the  sev- 
eral parts  of  the  Empire  were  divided. 
340  Eusebius,  Bishop  of  Caisarea,  died  at  the  age  of  seventy.  Au- 
thor of  Ecclesiastical  History,  Chronicon,  Preparatio  Evan- 
gelica,  &c. 

Hilary,  about  this  time,  Bishop  of  Poictlers  ;  wrote  12  Books 

on  the  Trinity. 
Dreadful  persecutions  of  the  Christians,  in  Persia,  which  con- 
tinued 40  years. 

Epiphanius,  Bishop  of  Salamis  wrote  against  Heretics. 

Optatus,  Bishop  of  Mil.  wrote  six  books  against  the  Dona- 
tists. 

Gregory  Nazianzen,  and  Gregory  of  Nyssa  flourished  in  this 

Century. 

350  Aerius,  Presbyter  of  Sebastia  opposed  the  Government  of 
the  RoDiish  Church. 


326  CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 

355  Liberius,  Bishop  of  Rome,  banished  by  the  Emperor  Constan*- 
tius;  and  Felix  II,  elevated  to  the  Episcopal  ofiice. 

358  Liberius  subscribed  to  the  Arian  doctrines,  and  was  restored 
to  the  Episcopate. 

360  Macedonius,  Bishop  of  Constantinople,  maintained,  that  "  The 

Holy  Ghost  is  a  Divine  energy  diti'used  throughout  the  uni- 
verse, and  not  a  distinct  Person  from  the  Father  and  the 
Son." 

361  Julian,  the  Emperor,  abjured  Christianity,  and  permitted  the 

Pagans  to  erect  Temples. 

362  Christians  persecuted,  and  many  of  them  relapsed  into  Pagan.- 

ism. 

363  Julian  ordered  the  Temple  in  Jerusalem  to  be  rebuilt.  Flames  of 

fire  destroyed  the  workmen. 
Lucifer,  Bishop  of  Cagliari,  withdrew  with  his  followers  from 

communion  with  the  Romish  Church,  on  account  of  the  acfc 

of  absolution  it  had  passed  in  favor  of  those,  who,  under 

Constantius,  had  deserted  to  the  Arians. 
Eusebius  Bishop  of  Verceil,  and  Paulinus  Bishop  of  Antioch^ 

Arians. 
S66  Bloody  contest  in  Rome,  between  Damasius  and  Ursicinus,  for 

the  Episcopal  Seat, 

379  Theodosius  the  Great,  reigned  from  379  to  395.      In  his  reign, 

and  by  his  influence,  the  Roman  Senate  formally  decreed 
the  abolition  of  the  Pagan  religion.  After  his  death,  the 
Emp-ire  was  divided  permanently  into  East  and  West,  or 
Greek  and  Latin. 

380  Second  Ecumenical  Council  (at  Constantinople.)     The  Mace- 

donians condemned. 

384  Siricius,  the  first  Bishop  of  Rome  who  assumed  the  exclusive 
title  of  Pope. 

386  Cyril,  Bishop  of  Jerusalem,  Author  of  Catechetical  Discourses. 
Rufinus,  Presbyter  of  Aquilcia,  wrote  Translations  of  Greek 
Authors. 

John,  surnamed  Chrysostom,  Bishop,  successively,  of  Antioch, 

and  Constantinople. 

390  Jovian,  opposed  the  reigning  superstitions  of  the  Church.  Con- 
demned first  in  Rome,  and  afterward  by  a  Council  in  Mi- 
lan under  the  authority  of  Ambrose,  Bishop. 

400  Pope  Anastasius  introduced  the  form  of  standing  up  whilst  the 
Gospel  is  read. 

Pelagius,  denied  the  existence  of  original  sin,  and  the  operation. 

of  Grace  in  conversion. 

410  Vigilantius,  propagated  his  doctrines  of  Reform. 

418  Tapers  introduced  into  the  Churches  by  Zozimus.  For  his. 
forgeries  see  History. 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE.  327 

419  Violent  contest  for  the  Papal  Chair,  between  Eulalius  and  Bo- 

niface.    The  latter  succeeded  in  driving  his  competitor  out 
of  Rome  by  the  aid  of  the  populace. 

420  The  celebrated  Jerome  died  at  the  age  of  89.     His  Latin  ver- 

sion of  tlie  Old  Testament  from  the  original  Hebrew  was 
the  foundation  of  the  Vulgate. 
423  The  Semi-Pelagians  taught,  that  the  salvation  of  man  origi- 
nates in  himself. 

429  Nestorius,  Syrian  Bishop  of  Constantinople,   acknowledged 

two  persons  in  Jesus  Ciirist. 

430  The  celebrated  Augustine,  Bishop  of  Hippo,  died  at  the  age 

of  76. 

431  Third  Ecumenical  Council  (at  Ephesus.)     Nestorius  and  the 

Pelagians  condemned. 

Isidore  of  Pelusium.     A  man  of  learning  and  piety. 

447  Eutyches  asserted,  that  there  was  only  one  nature  in  Christ. 
449  A  Council  at  Ephesus  confirmed  the  doctrines  of  Eutyches. 
451   Fourth  Ecumenical  Council  (at  Chalcedon.)      Eutychianism 

and  Nestorianism  condemned. 

Theodoret,  Bishop  of  Cyrus,  maintained  the  doctrines  of  Nes- 

torius. 
457  Christians  persecuted  by  the  Vandals  in  Africa,  under  Genseric. 

Orosius  refuted  tlie  cavils  oT  the  Pagans  against  Christianity. 

465  The  Golden  number  rectiticd.      The  Litany  introduced  in  the 

service  by  Pope  Hilary. 
Theodore  of  Mopsuestia,  maintained  the  doctrines  of  Nesto- 
rius, and  Ibas  of  Edessa. 

482  Peter,  surnamed  Fullo,  founder  of  the  sect  of  the  Theopa  - 

chites,  an  Eutychian. 

483  Christians  peisecuted  in  Africa,  under  Huneric. 

490  Felix  II.  (The  Felix  in  the  4th  Century  is  called  Anti-Pope,) 
decreed  that  churches  should  be  consecrated  by  Bishops 
only. 

494  Gelasius  I,  ordered  a  new  Canon  of  Scripture,  condemning,  as 
spurious.  Books  which  had  previously  been  received  by  the 
Church  as  canonical. 

490  Clovis,  and  3000  of  his  subjects,  baptized.  Christians  perse- 
cuted by  Thrasamund,  in  Africa. 

497  Pope  Anastasius  II,  excommunicated  the  Greek  Emperor  for 

favoring  the  Monophysites  ;  but  afterward  maintained  their 
doctrine  of  one  nature  in  Jesus  Christ. 

498  Violent  contest  for  the  Papal  Chair,  between  Symmachus  and 

Laurentius. 
504  Christians  persecuted  in  Africa  by  the  Vandals. 
514  The  Emperor  Justinius  confirmed  the  election  of  Pope  Hor- 

misdas,  by  his  Ambassadors. 


328  CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 

526  Pope  John  I,  cast  into  prison  by  Theodoric,  king  of  the  Os- 
trogoths, where  he  died, 

528  The  chancel  divided  from  the  Church.  Extreme  unction  first 
introduced.  The  order  of  the  Benedictine  Monks  institu- 
ted. 

530  Contest  for  the  Papacy  between  Dioscorides  and  Boniface. 

537  Pope  Sylverus  degraded  from  his  office,  and  banished  by  Bel- 
isarius,  on  a  charge  of  treachery. 

Vigilius  purchased  the  vacant  see  for  200  lbs.  of  gold.^     Re- 

Ibsing  afterward  to  assent  to  the  decrees  of  the  council,  (of 
Constantinople  in  553,)  he  was  seized  by  the  order  of  the 
emperor  Justinian  I.,  carried  to  that  city,  drawn  about  the 
streets  with  a  halter  around  his  neck,  and  banished. 

540  The  Monothelites,  who  acknowledged  only  one  will  in  Jesus 
Christ. 

Gregory  of  Tours,  the  father  of  Gallic  history. 

553  Fifth  ecumenical  council,  (at  Constantinople,)  Origenism,  and 
the  Three  Chapters  condemned. 

In  this  year,  nine  bishops  of  Italy  and  Switzerland,  withdrew 

from  the  communion  of  the  Romish  church,  and  the  churches 
under  their  care  persisted  in  their  dissent, 

558  Pope  Pelagius  I.  decreed  that  schismatics  should  be  punished 
with  death. 

560  The  Tritheists  acknowledged  three  Gods  in  the  Trinity,  and 
denied  the  resurrection. 

565  Columba  the  Apostle  of  the  Picts,  established  a  church  on 
scriptural  principles. 

578  Pope  Pelagius  II.,  having  been  elected  whilst  Rome  was  be- 
sieged by  the  Lombards,  sent  an  embassy  to  the  emperor, 
Tiberius  Constantine,  to  excuse  the  proceeding. 

Liberatus  wrote  a  compendious  history  of  the  Eutychian  and 

Nestorian  controversies. 

580  Leovigeld,  king  of  the  Goths  in  Spain,  persecuted  those  op- 
posed to  Arianism. 

588  John,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  assumed  the  title  of  Univer- 
sal Bishop  conceded  to  him  by  a  council.  Pope  Pelagius 
pronounced  such  a  claim,  execrable,  profane,  and  diabolical. 

590  Pope  Gregory  I.,  or  the  Great,  declared  it  presumptuous  in 
any  prelate  to  style  himself  Universal  Bisliop,  or  Head  of 
the  Church,  and  called  himself,  "  the  servant  of  the  servants 
of  God." 

600  Gregory  formally  condemned  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinople 
for  assuming  the  title  of  Universal  Bishop,  "which,"  says 
Gibbon,  "  he  was  too  haughty  to  concede,  and  too  feeble 
to  assume." 

'Gibbon's  Roman  Empire. 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE.  329 

602  The  emperor  Mauritius,  dethroned  by  the  usurper  Phocas. 
Five  of  iiis  children  were  massacred  in  his  presence,  and 
he  afterward  slain.  His  wife  and  three  daughters  were 
dragged  out  of  a  church,  and  savagely  butchered.  There 
were  no  bounds  to  the  lewdness  and  ferocity  of  the  tyrant. 
Gregory  congratulated  him  on  his  accession,  "  We  rejoice," 
said  he,  "  to  find  the  gentleness  of  your  piety  equal  to  your 
imperial  dignity.  Let  the  heavens  rejoice,  and  the  earth  be 
glad,"  &c. 

606  Title  of  Universal  Bishop  conferred  by  Phocas,  on  Gregory's 
successor,  Boniface  III.  This  concession  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  the  temporal  power  of  the  popes. 

612  Mohammed  published  his  Koran. 

613  All-hallow-day  instituted.      The  Pantheon  dedicated  to  the 

Virgin  Mary. 

620  The  churches  made  places  of  refuge,  by  Boniface  V.,  for 
thieves  and  murderers. 

630  Institution  of  the  festival  of  the  exaltation  of  the  cross,  by 
Honorius  I. 

633  Honorius  subscribed  to  the  doctrines  or  heresies  of  the  Mo- 
nothelites. 

639  Ecthesis  of  the  emperor  Heraclius.  Controversy  on  the  ques- 
tion of  one  or  two  wills  in  Jesus  Christ,  prohibited. 

648  Prohibition  confirmed  by  Constans  II.  in  his  edict  called  the 

650  Priests  required  to  submit  to  the  ceremony  of  the  tonsure,  and 
to  abstain  from  marrying. 

Martin  I.  deposed  from  the  papacy  by  the  emperor,  and  ban- 
ished to  the  Isle  of  Naxos,  for  having  condemned  in  a  coun- 
cil at  Rome,  the  Ecthesis  and  the  Type. 

660  Constantine  Sylvanus  of  Mananalis,  near  Samosata,  revived 
the  Paulicians. 

668  The  English  bishops,  says  Bede,  were  at  this  period  generally 
ordained  by  the  presbyters  of  the  Culdee  churches  estab- 
lished in  Scotland, 

671  The  organ  used  first  in  public  worship.  The  service  perform- 
ed in  Latin  in  England. 

678  Agatho,  after  his  election,  refused  to  pay  to  the  emperor  the 
customary  tribute. 

680  Sixth  ecumenical  council,  (at  Constantinople,)  Monothelites 
condemned,  and  Pope  Honorius  I.  and  several  other  bisliops 
were  solemnly  anathematized. 

682  Further  restraints  imposed  on  the  marriage  of  the  clergy; 
kissing  the  slipper  introduced. 

684  Benedict  II.,  the  first  pope  who  was  called,  "  the  Vicar  of 
Christ." 


330 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 


686  Three  claimants,  Conon,  Peter,  and  Theodore,  contend  for 

the  Papal  chair,  after  the  death  of  John  Y.     Schism  for 
some  time  in  the  Church.     Conon  succeeded. 

687  After  the  death  of  Conon,  another  contest  for  the  succession 

took  place.  Pascal,  Sergius,  and  Theodore  were  the  com- 
petitors. 
711  Justinian  IT,  emperor,  the  rival  of  Nero  in  cruelty,  was  de- 
posed in  695,  and  restored  in  705.  He  servilely  kissed  the 
feet  of  Pope  Constantine ;  and  tliis  act  was  claimed  as  a 
precedent  for  exacting  that  homage  as  due  to  the  Vicars  of 
Christ. 

725  Peter-pence  first  granted  in  England  hy  Ina,  king  of  the  West 

Saxons,  to  support  an  English  college  in  Rome. 

726  Edict  of  the  Emperor  Leo  III.,  the  Isaurian,  against  the  wor- 

ship of  images. 

733  The  worshippers  of  images,  persecuted  by  the  Iconoclasls. 

750  Colony  of  Paulicians  transported  from  Asia  to  Thrace,  by 
Constantine  Copronymus. 

752  Childeric,  king  of  France,  deposed  by  Pepin,  with  the  sanc- 
tion of  Pope  Zachary. 

755  The  Exarchate  of  Ravenna,  and  Pentapolis,  conferred  on 
Pope  Stephen  II.  by  Pepin.  This  is  the  true  epoch  of  the 
temporal  power  of  the  popes. 

757  Schism  in  the  Church.  A  contest  for  the  papacy,  between 
Paul  and  Theophylact. 

767  Another  schism.  Stephen  and  Constantine  contend  for  the  va- 
cant chair.  Worshipping  and  censing  of  images  introduced 
by  Stephen  III. 

774  Charlemagne  confirmed  the  grants  made  by  Pepin  to  the  Ro- 
man see,  and  added  the  dukedoms  of  Spoleto  and  Beneven- 
to,  claimed  by  Adrian  I.,  as  ancient  donations  to  the  Church 
by  Constantine  the  Great. 

787  Seventh  ecumenical  council  (at  Nice.)  Image  worship  de- 
creed. Against  the  decrees  of  this  council,  Paulinus,  bish- 
op of  Aquileia,  and  other  Italian  bishops,  firmly  protested. 
They  rejected  them,  denied  that  Peter  had  a  supremacy 
over  the  other  apostles,  and  opposed  the  opinion,  beginning 
then  to  prevail,  that  the  bread  and  wine  by  consecration,  in 
the  Eucharist,  are  converted  into  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ. 

792  Felix  of  Urgel,  maintained  that  Jesus  Christ  was  the  Son  of 
God  only  by  adoption. 

800  Charlemagne  went  to  Rome.     Pope  Leo  III.  prostituted  his 

keys  and  the  Roman  liberties  at  liis  feet,  for  which,  the 
populace  drew  him  from  his  horse,  and  whipped  him. 

801  Institution  of  the  Rogations,  or  Litanies,  on  the  three  days  be- 

fore the  feast  of  Ascension. 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE.  331 

817  Claude,  bisliop  of  Turin,  \A'rote  various  commentaries  on  the 
Bible,  and  opposed  the  superstitious  rites  of  the  Romish 
church,  particularly  the  worship  of  images. 

824  Schism  in  the  Church.  Zizimus  and  Eugenius  claimed  the 
vacant  chair. 

833  Gregory  IV.,  threatening  to  excommunicate  the  emperor,  Louis 
le  Debonnaire,  was  firmly  opposed  by  the  bishops  of  France. 

835  Feast  of  All-saints  instituted  by  Gregory  IV. 

844  Sergius  II.  Before  his  election  his  name  was  Bocca  di  Porca, 
or,  Swine's  mouth.  He  was  the  first  pope  who  assumed  a 
new  name  when  elected.  His  successors  have  followed 
his  example. 

850  Peter-pence  paid  by  Ethelwolfe,  king  of  England,  to  Leo  IV. 

855  Schism  in  the  Church.  Contest  between  Benedict  and  Anas- 
tasius,  for  the  papacy. 

866  Missionaries  sent  among  the  Bulgarians. 

869  Eighth  ecumenical  council,  (at  Constantinople,)  Photius  de- 
posed and  excommunicated,  and  Ignatius  restored  to  the 
patriarchate. 

878  Johannes  Scotus  wrote  against  the  real  presence  of  Christ  in 
the  Eucharist. 

891  Schism  in  the  Church.  Formosus  and  Sergius  contend  for 
the  see  of  Rome. 

894  Borsivoi,  king  of  Bohemia,  embraced  Christianity. 

896  Body  of  Pope  Formosus  exhumed  by  the  order  of  Pope  Ste- 

phen VI.,  tried  and  condemned,  and  brutally  mutilated.    All 
his  official  acts  were  annulled. 

897  Stephen  VI.,  the  year  after  his  accession,  violently  deposed, 

and  strangled. 

898  Romanus  declared  his  acts  to  have  been  illegal.     Romanus 

reigned  three  weeks. 

899  Theodore  II.,  his  successor,  restored  the  acts  of  Formosus. 

900  Beginning  of  what  is  commonly  called  "  the  Dark  Age." 
John  IX.  again  confirmed  the  decrees  of  Formosus,  and  an- 
nulled those  of  Stephen. 

903  Leo  V.  dethroned  and  imprisoned  forty  days   after  his  acces- 

sion, by  Christopher. 

904  Christopher  dethroned  and  imprisoned  six  months  after,  by 

Sergius  III. 

910  The  bearing  of  candles  at  the  feast  of  the  purification  of  the 
Virgin  Mary,  ordained  by  Sergius  ;  thence  called  Candle- 
mas-day.    He  rescinded  all  the  decrees  of  Formosus. 

928  John  X.,  the  lover  of  Theodora,  imprisoned  and  strangled. 

933  John  XI.,  the  bastard  son  of  Pope  Sergius  III.  and  Marozia, 
deposed  and  imprisoned ;  where  he  died  in  93G.  He  was 
suspected  of  having  poisoned  both  of  his  immediate  prede- 
cessors, Leo  VI.  and  Stephen  VII. 


332 


CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 


963  John  XII,  Polluted  from  his  youth  with  all  kinds  of  villainy 
and  dishonesty,  was  deposed  by  Otho  the  Great;  in  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  was  killed  in  the  act  of  adultery.  Two 
popes  were  elected  after  his  deposition ;  one  by  a  council, 
and  another  by  the  inhabitants  of  Rome. 

965  The  right  of  choosing  the  popes  remitted  to  the  emperor,  by 
Leo  VIII. 

970  Baptizing  of  bells  instituted  by  John  XIII.  A  numerous  col- 
ony of  Paulicians  transported  from  Armenia  to  Thrace,  by 
the  emperor  John  Zimisces. 

974  Benedict  VI.  imprisoned  and  strangled  in  the  castle  of  St. 
Angelo. 

Boniface  VII.  forced  to  leave  Rome  one  month  after  his  ele- 
vation, stole  the  Church  ornaments  and  treasures,  and  fled 
to  Constantinople. 

984  Boniface  returned  to  Rome.  John  XIV.  who  occupied  the 
papal  chair,  was  imprisoned  by  him,  after  having  his  eyes 
taken  out.     Boniface  died  soon  after. 

993  First  instance  of  a  solemn  canonization,  of  Udalric,  bishop  of 
Augsburg. 

996  Gregory  V.,  elevated  to  the  Pontificate  by  Otho  III ;  expel- 

led from  Rome. 

997  Christianity  embraced  by  Stephen  I.,  king  of  Hungary. 

998  Pope  John  XV.  (called  by  some  Chronologers  the  XVI.  from 

the  inextricable  confusion  in  the  succession)  expelled  by 
Otho,  and  inhumanly  treated  by  the  soldiers  ;  and  Gregory 
V.  restored  by  his  authority. 

1007  Thirteen  Paulicians  burnt  in  Orleans  (France)  as  heretics. 

1012  Benedict  VIII.  expelled  from  Rome  by  his  competitor  Greg- 
ory, soon  after  his  elevation  ;  but  restored  by  the  authority 
of  the  emperor,  Henry  II. 

1026  Paulicians  numerous  in  Milan.     They  are  called  Paterines. 

1033  Benedict  IX.,  "a  most  abandoned  profligate,  and  a  wretch  ca- 
pable of  the  most  horrid  crimes.  His  flagitious  conduct 
drew  upon  him  the  just  resentment  of  the  Romans,  and  in 
1038  he  was  degraded  from  his  oflice;"  soon  after  restored 
by  the  emperor  Conrad,  but  for  his  scandalous  life  and  re- 
peated crimes  he  was  again  expelled  in  1044  by  tlie  peo- 
ple, who  placed  Sylvester  III.  in  the  oflice.  About  three 
months  after  he  returned,  drove  Sylvester  out  of  the  city, 
and  sold  the  paj)al  chair  to  Gregory  VI.  Three  Popes, 
and  schism  in  the  Church. 

1046  Coimcil  convened  at  Sutri  by  the  emperor  Henry  III. ;  de- 
clared Benedict,  Sylvester  and  Gregory  unworthy  of  the 
seat,  and  elected  a  fourth  Pope,  Clement  II,  Nine  months 
after  Clement  was  poisoned,  and  Benedict,  who  had  sold 
his  right,  returned,  and  took  forcible  possession  of  the  scat. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  333 

1047  Damasius  II.  sent  from  Germany  by  the  emperor,  disposses- 

sed Benedict ;  but  twenty-three  days  after  he  died  suddenly. 

1048  Leo  IX.  appointed  his  successor  by  the  Emperor,  in  a  coun- 

cil held  at  Worms. 

About  this  time  the  celebrated  Berenger  began  to  oppose  the 

doctrine  of  the  real  presence  in  the  Eucharist. 

1053  Pope  Leo  IX.  commanding  an  army  against  the  Normans, 

was  taken  prisoner,  confined  in  Benevento,  and  died  the  fol- 
lowing year  in  Rome. 

1054  Michael  Cerularius,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  completed 

the  schism  which  liad  long  occasioned  angry  controversies 
between  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches. 
1058  Benedict  X.  seized   the  Papacy  after  the  death  of  Stephen 
IX.,  and  expelled  John,  bishop  of  Vcletri,  another  aspirant 
equally  unsuccessful. 

1060  Nicholas  II.  changed  the  mode  of  electing  the  Popes  ;  and 

instituted  a  college  of  Cardinals. 

1061  Bloody  contest  for  the  papal  chair  between  Honorius  II.  and 

Alexander  II. 

1073  Hildebrand  or  Gregory  VII.  elected,  contrary  to  the  decree 
of  Nicholas,  by  the  united  votes  of  the  Cardinals,  the  Bish- 
ops, the  Abbots,  the  Monks,  and  the  People.  He  was  the 
last  Pope  whose  election  was  confirmed  by  the  emperor. 

1075  Disputes  about  the  investiture  of  ecclesiastical  livings  angri- 
ly sustained  between  the  emperor  Henry  IV.  and  Gregory 
VII. 

1080  Gregory  deposed  by  Henry  in  a  council  at  Mentz  ;  and  in  a 
council  at  Brixen,  Clement  III.  elected  Pope. 

1084  Gregory  lied  to  Salernum  ;  and  Clement  crowned  Henry  in 

Rome. 

1085  Violent  contest  for  the  Papacy,  between  Clement  III.  and 

Victor  III. 

1088  After  the  death  of  Victor  another  competitor  appeared.  Ur- 
ban II.,  who,  from  his  factious  disposition  was  called  Tur- 
bulens. 

1100  "The  Noble  Lesson"  written  by  a  Waldcnsian  pastor. 

1110  Peter  de  Bruis,  who  preached  the  doctrines  of  the  Reforma- 

tion, and  wrote  the  celebrated  treatise  on  Anti-Christ. 

1111  Terrible  tumults  in  the  Church  of  St.  Peter ;  Pope  Pascal 

II.  seized  by  the  Emperor  Henry  V.,  and  confined  in  the 
castle  of  Viterbo. 

1112  A  council  in  the  Lateran  annulled  the  treaty  between  the  em- 

peror and  the  pope.  Successive  councils  and  synods  in 
France  and  Germany  excommunicated  Pascal,  and  declared 
liim  a  heretic.  Schisms  in  the  Clmrch  by  the  pretensions 
to  the  papacy  of  Albrecht,  Theodore,  and  Maginulph. 


334  CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 

1118  After  the  death  of  Pascal,  Gelasius  II.  and  Gregory  YIII. 

were  competitors  for  the  succession  ;  and  the  contest  con- 
tinued after  the  death  of  Gelasius  by  Calixtus  II. 

1119  Council  at  Toulouse,  condemned  the  Paulicians,  or  Albigen- 

ses,  as  heretics. 

1 120  Confession  of  Faith  of  the  Vaudois,  containing  the  true  scrip- 

tural doctrines. 

1123  Ninth  ecumenical  council  (1st  of  Lateran.)  Crusade  urged 
and  reform  attempted. 

1130  Another  schism  in  the  Church.  The  college  of  cardinals  di- 
vided. Innocent  II.,  and  Anacletus  II.,  elected  by  their  re- 
spective factions.     Gregory,  a  third  claimant. 

1138  Rise  of  the  Guelph  and  Ghibelin  parties. 

1139  Tenth  ecumenical  council  (2d  of  Lateran.)     Pope  Anacletus 

condemned.  Arnold  of  Brescia,  disciple  of  Abelard,  ex- 
communicated. 

1145  Dreadful  civil  commotions  in  Rome.  Pope  Lucius  II.,  kill- 
ed in  a  riot. 

1155"  Arnold  of  Brescia,  tried  and  condemned  by  an  assembly  of 
cardinals,  and  burnt. 

1159  Another  schism  in  the  Church.     One  faction  of  cardinals 

elected  Alexander  III.,  and  another,  Victor  IV.  Alexander 
fled  to  France.  After  the  death  of  Victor,  his  faction  elect- 
ed Pascal  III.,  and  after  his  death,  Calixtus  III.  succeeded 
to  the  Papacy  in  1168.  Another  claimant  appeared  in  the 
person  of  Innocent. 

1160  Paulicians,  in  England,  condemned  at  Oxford:  treated  cru- 

elly, and  driven  into  the  woods  to  perish,      Peter   Waldo 

preached  the  doctrines  of  the  Reformation. 
1 163  Synod  at  Tours  ;  prohibited  all  persons  from  associating  with 

the  Albigenses  and  Waldenses. 
1171   The  Monastic  Order  of  the  Carmelites,  called  afterward,  our 

Lady's  Brethren. 

1176  Council  at  Lombez,  condemned  the  Albigenses  as  heretics. 

1177  Schism  in  the  Church  healed    by  the  final  triumph  of  Alex- 

ander III. 

1178  Eleventh   ecumenical   council  (3d   of    Lateran.)      Crusade 

against  the  Albigenses.  Two-thirds  of  the  votes  of  the  car- 
dinals required  for  the  election  of  a  Pope.  The  right  of 
canonization  rested  in  the  Pope  exclusively.  Some  date 
this  council  in  1179. 

1179  Alphonso  I.,  duke  of  Portugal,  received  from  Alexander  the 

title  of  King. 
1181   Pope  Lucius  III.,  published  an  edict  against  the  Waldenses. 
1184  Pope  Lucius  twice  driven  out  of  Rome  ;  died  the  following 

year  at  Verona. 


CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE.  335 

1191  Pope  Celestine  III.,  placed  the  crown  on  the  head  of  Henry 
VI.,  and  kicked  it  off;  saying,  "  By  me  Kings  reign.""  Not 
long  after  he  excommunicated  him ;  as  he  did  AlpIion.so, 
King  of  Gallacia  and  Leon. 

1195  Ildefonsus,  king  of  Arragon,  published  an  edict  against  the 
Waldenses. 

1200  Stephen  Langton,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  divided   the 
Holy  Scriptures  (except  the  Psalms  which  were  always  di- 
vided) into  chapters.      The  Titloi  and   Kephalaia  of  the  , 
Greek  Bibles  only  pointed  out  their  contents. 

1206  Commission  from  Innocent  III.,  to  Rainico  and  Castehiau,  to 
inquire  after  heresy  in  the  southern  provinces  of  France. 
The  origin  of  the  Holy  Inquisition. 

1208  John,  king  of  England,  excommunicated  by  Innocent.     Cru- 

sade against  the  Albigenses. 

1209  The  city  of  Bezieres  taken.     The  inhabitants  destroyed  and 

the  city  laid  in  ashes. 

The  order  of  Mendicant  Friars  instituted.     Patronized  by 

Innocent. 

1210  The  emperor  Otho  IV.,  excommunicated  by  Innocent.    ,^ 
1213  Great  slaughter  of  the  Albigenses,  in  the  battle  of  Mureh^  on 

the  Garonne. 

1215  Twelfth  ecumenical  council  (4th  of  Lateran.)  Raymond, 
count  of  Toulouse,  and  the  Albigenses  condemned.  The 
word  Transt(bstantiation  first  used  in  this  council  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  doctrine  of  Berenger  ;  as  Consuhslanllal  had 
been  introduced  in  the  first  council  of  Nice  against  the 
Arians.  Auricular  confession  made  imperative.  A  Pix  to 
cover  the  Host,  and  ringing  the  bell,  introduced. 

121"8  The  crusade  against  the  Albigenses  renewed  with  increased 
cruelties. 

1225  The  fraternity  of  the  Trinity;  styled  in  the  ancient  records 
the  order  of  Asses. 

1229  The  council  of  Toulouse  prohibited  the  reading  of  the  Scrip- 
tures by  the  laity. 

1233  The  order  of  Servitcs,  in  commemoration  of  the  most  holy 
widowhood  of  the  blessed  Virgin  Mary, 

The  Dominicans,  or  preaching  Friars,  intrusted  \\\\.\\  tlic  in- 

quisitorial powers. 

John  of  Paris,  opposed  tlie  usurpations  of  the  Pope,  and  the 

doctrine  of  the  real  presence. 

1245  Thirteenth   ecumenical  council  (1st  of  Lyons.)     In  its  last 

session,  Innocent  IV.  pronounced  the  excommunication  and 
deposition  of  Frederick  II.,  emperor  ;  and  absolved  his  sub- 
jects from  their  oath  of  allegiance. 

1246  The  annual  festival  of  the  Holy  Sacrament  instituted  at  Liege. 


836  CHRONOLOGICAL   TABLE. 

1247  Robert  Grostete,  or  Greathead,  opposed  the  exactions  of 
the  papal  court ;  and  maintained  the  scriptural  doctrine  of 
the  free  and  unmerited  grace  of  God. 

1250  Contest  between  the  Guelph  and  Ghibelin  parties. 

1256  The  order  of  Augustine  established  by  Alexander  IV.,  suppo- 
sed to  have  originated  in  the  eighth  century,  called  in  Par- 
is, the  religious  of  St.  Genevieve. 

1260  The  sect  of  Flagellants. 

1264  The  annual  festival  of  the  Holy  Sacrament  revived  by  Ur- 
ban IV. 

1268  Schism  in  the  Church  ;  and  an  interregnum  of  three  years, 
when  Gregory  X.  was  elected.  John,  surnamed  Pungens 
A  sinus,  a  doctor  of  the  Sorbonne,  adopted  the  term  Consiib- 
stantiation  to  express  tlie  nature  of  the  presence  in  the  Eu- 
charist. 

1274  Fourteenth  ecumenical  council  (2d  of  Lyons.)  Attempt  to 
reunite  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches.  It  was  ordained 
that  the  cardinal  electors  should  be  confined  in  conclave  af- 
ter tlie  death  of  a  Pope,  and  until  a  new  election  was  made. 

1277  Schism,  and  an  interregnum  of  six  months.  Nicholas  III.,  ob- 
tained the  papal  chair. 

1282  Sicilian  vespers  on  Easter  Sunday.  Every  Frenchman  on 
the  Island  murdered.  This  arose  from  the  usurpation  of 
Charles  of  Anjou  in  1266,  through  the  influence  of  Clement 
IV.     The  massacre  was  instigated  by  pope  Martin  IV. 

1292  Schism  in  the  Churchy  by  the  division  in  the  electoral  coi; 
lege.  Three  years  transpired  before  an  election  was  made. 
Celestine  V.  was  at  length  chosen ;  but  resigned  four  months 
after.  Boniface  VIII.  succeeded  him,  and  imprisoned  him 
for  life. 

1299  The  Festival  of'  a  Centennial  Jubilee  instituted  by  Boniface. 

1300  The  first  Jubilee  celebrated  in  Rome;  and  yielded  an  im- 

mense profit  to  the  see. 

1303  Boniface  seized  at  Anagni  by  the  emissaries  of  the  king  of 

France,  and  severely  wounded. 

1304  Benedict  XI.  poisoned;  and  an  interregnum  of  eleven  months 

followed. 

1309  Clement  V.  removed  the  papal  court  to  Avignon  (France.) 
The  sale  of  indulgences  was  made  from  this  time  a  source 
of  immense  revenue  to  the  popes. 

1311  Council  at  Vienne,  in  France,  confirmed  the  edict  of  Urban 
IV.,  for  the  annual  celebration  of  the  Festival  of  the  Holy 
Sacrament.  This  has  been  considered  the  fifteenth  ecumeni- 
cal council  of  the  Church. 

1314  Schism.  After  an  interregnum  of  two  years,  John  XXII., 
was  elected. 

1322  Walter  the  Lollard,  burnt  in  Cologne. 


CimOKOLOGICAL    TABLE.  S^l 

1328  Jolin  declared  by  Lewis  of  Bavaria,  unworthy  of  the  pomi- 
ficate ;  was  deposed,  and  driven  out  of  Rome.     Nicholas 

V.  elevated,  and  crowned  Lewis  emperor. 

1330  Nicholas  resigned  his  claim,  and  delivered  himself  to  Jolin, 
who  conlined  him  in  prison  for  the  remainder  of  liis  days. 

1332  Bull  of  pope  John  XXil.  against  the  Waldenscs. 

1334  Another  scliism.  'Several  months  intervened  from  the  death 
of  John  to  thceledtion  of  liis  successor.  Benedict  XII.  was 
finally  elected. 

1343  Clement  VI.,  reduced  the  circle  of  the  Jubilee  to  .50  years. 

1347  Nicholas  Gabrini,  surnamed  Rienzi,  restored  the  tribunate  at 
Rome. 

1350  Jolm  Wicklifi'e  commenced  his  opposition  to  the  corru[)t 
practices  of  the  Romisft  church,  which  he  continued  until 
liisdeatli  in  1384. 

1360  Jolm  de  Rupe  Scessa,  burnt  by  Innocent  YL,  for  his  predic- 
tions concerning  anti-Christ. 

1370  Urban  V.  poisoned. 

1376  The  papal  court  re-established  in  Rome  by  Gregory  XI. 

1378  Great  schism  of  the  West.  The  cardinals  terrified  by  the 
populace  elected  Urban  VL  They  retired  soon  after  to 
Fondi,  and  elected  Clement  VII.  On  the  death  of  Urban 
1389,  his  faction  elected  Boniface  IX.  Clement  died  in 
1394,  and  was  succeeded  by  Benedict  XIII. 

1397  The  Galilean  church,  in  a  council  at  Paris,  renounced  obe- 

dience to  both  pontilis. 

1398  Benedict  detained  a  prisoner  at  Avignon,  by  order  of  Charie? 

VI.  king  of  France. 

1400  Boniface  IX.  in  Rome,  and  Benedict  XIII.  at  Avignon.  Both 
claimed  the  papal  chair. 

1404  Boniface  died,  and  Innocent  VII.  elected.  Gregory  XII.  suc- 
ceeded Innocent.  r' 

1408  Benedict  fled  from  Avignon  to  Catalonia,  and  thence  to  Pcr- 

pignan. 

1409  Sixteenth  ecumenical  council  (at  Pisa)  to  put  an  end  to  the 

fichisjii.  Popes  Benedict  XIII.  and  Gregory  XII.  deposed, 
and  Alexander  V.  elected.  Three  popes.  The  council 
decreed  Benedict  and  Gregory  guilty  of  heresy,  perjuryj, 
and  contumacy.  Benedict  held  liis  council  at  Perpignan; 
Gregory  one  at  Austria,  near  Aquileia. 

1410  Alexander  died  and  was  succeeded  by  John  XXIII.,  an  aban- 

doned and  profligate  wretch. 

1414  Seventeenth  ecumenical  council   (at  Constance)  to  restore 

peace  to  the  Church  and  to  reform  its  abuses. 

1415  The  doctrines  of  Wickliife  condemned.     IIuss  condemned 

and  burned  for  contumacy.  John  and  Benedict  deposed. 
Gregory  resigned.    Martin  V.  elected  by  the  council.    Th« 


338  CHRONOLOGICAL    TABLE. 

wine  witliheld  from  the  laity  in  the  Lord's  Supper.  The 
supremacy  of  ecumenical  councils  over  the  popes  solemnly 
decreed. 

]  416  Jerome  of  Prague  condemned  and  burned. 

1418  Lord  Cobham  suffered  martyrdom  in  England. 

1420  The  Hussites  took  up  arms  in  defense  of  religious  rights. 

1423  Benedict  XIII.  died,  and  Clement  VIII.  elected  his  successor. 
Two  popes  on  the  throne. 

1428  The  bones  of  Wickliffe  were  dug  up  and  publicly  burned. 

1429  The  great  schism  of  the  West  healed,  by  the  resignation  of 

Clement,  after  51  years. 
1431  Eighteen  ecumenical  council  (at  Basle)  to  reform  the  Church; 
and  to  reunite  the  Greek  and  Latin  churches.    It  continued 
until  1443. 

1437  Eugenius  IV,  deposed  by  the  council. 

1438  A  council  assembled  at  Ferrara  by  Eugenius,  and  adjourned 

to  Florence  in  1439. 
1440  Council  of  Basle  elected  the  duke  of  Savoy,  pope  or  Felix 
V.     Two  popes  again. 

1449  The  schism  healed  by  the  resignation  of  Felix. 

1450  Robt.  Stephens  divided  the  chapters  of  the  Bible  into  verses, 
1453  Constaniinople  taken  by  the  Turks. 

1467  The  Society  of  the  United  Brethren. 

1470  The  Jubilee  circle  reduced  to  t\venty-five  years  by  Paul  II. 
Tlie  pope's  mitre  enriched  by  him  with  precious  stones. 
Cardinals  assume  scarlet  gowns. 

14S7  Bull  of  Innocent  VIII.  against  the  Waldenses.  A  relentless 
and  cruel  persecution  commenced  in  the  valleys  of  Pied- 
mont and  in  the  southern  provinces  of  France. 

1489  Court  of  Inquisition  established  in  Pignerol. 

Wm.  Farel,  disciple  of  Lefevre  Etaples,  born  in  Dauphiue. 

13^92  Roderic  Borgia,  or  Alexander  VI.,  elevated  to  the  papal  chair. 

4494  Persecutions  in  Scotland,  by  Blackadder,  archbishop  of 
Glasgow. 


IN  -The  compilation  of  the  preceding   history  the 

FOLLOWING  AUTHORS  WERE  CONSULTED. 


Dwight's  Theology. 

Lavoisne's  Genealogical,  Historical,  Chronological  and  Geo- 
graphical Atlas. 

Charles  Von  Rotteck's  General  History  of  the  World. 

Gibbon's  History  of  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

Prideaux's  Old  and  New  Testament  connected. 

Hallam's  View  of  the  Slate  of  Europe  during  the  Middle  Ages. 

Daille's  Treatise  on  the  right  use  of  the  Fathers. 

Jones'  History  of  the  Christian  Church. 

Calmet's  Dictionary  of  the  Holy  Bible. 

Brande's  Encyclopaedia  of  Science,  Literature  and  Art. 

Mosheim's  Ecclesiastical  History,  translated  by  Archibald  Mac- 
laitie. 

Encyclopaedia  of  Religious  Knowledge.  Edited  by  Rev.  J.  N. 
Brown. 

William  Cave's  Lives  of  the  Apostles. 

Samuel  Miller's  Primitive  and  Apostolic  Order  of  the  Church  of 
Christ. 

Lectures  on  the  points  in  Controversy  between  Romanists  and 
Protestants. 

B.  White's  Practical  and  Internal  Evidence  against  Catholicism. 

?f  OTE. — In  the  history  of  the  papal  saccession  1  have  adhered  with  strictnera  to 
Moslieim,  as  my  faithful  authoiity  ;  and  from  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Ro- 
man Empire,  1  have  for  the  most  part  drawn  my  statements  rcfpectin^  the  Novatiaoi 
envi  Paulicians.  Daille,  on  the  riglit  ute  of  the  Fathers,  has  been  my  guide  ut  8)j 
««fi)roucea  to  the  character  of  the  ecclesiasiicai  wiiters  of  the  early  ceutuiies. 


$• 


13G94YB   172r 

12-12-02  321B0      MS  I 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary  Libraries 


1012  01292  2136 


